


We Might Fall Hard, We Might Fall Fast

by Taking_An_Apple



Category: Glee
Genre: F/F, Friendship, Romantic Comedy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-07-10
Updated: 2015-06-28
Packaged: 2017-12-18 08:03:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 26
Words: 114,125
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/877497
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Taking_An_Apple/pseuds/Taking_An_Apple
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>How one slushy changed everything for Quinn and Rachel. AU-ish Faberry fluff. Set during season one so far. *I previously posted this on LJ and FF.Net under the name Apples Within*</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. One

**Author's Note:**

> When I first started writing this story - almost three years ago, there was little - to no information on most of the Gleeks families - So I made it up. I haven't changed anything since things have been made canon, so I hope you don't get confused!

Quinn never would have thought that Rachel Berry would be right about her having no one but the Glee Club when the pregnancy came out. But, she was.

And even after Finn had found out that the baby wasn't his, and the tall boy almost didn't go to sectionals because he was so mad at her and Puck, these group of misfits were all she had. They stuck by her, they probably didn't like her very much, but they were there for her.

She felt like a nobody though. Having been thrown out of Finn's, she had no choice but to go to Puck's. Going through the motions of being his girlfriend, but never feeling it. He was with her only because she was carrying his baby, and although he liked her. He didn't like her enough to be faithful.

But she accepted this because this was her only option. And she never really felt jealous whenever he'd clearly strayed. Although she felt she should.

What was worse than Rachel being right about the club was that she actually felt she belonged there. But if the opportunity arose, she would leave it all to be the popular head cheerleader again. She knew it was pathetic and shallow, but it was the image more than the reality she missed.

She missed everyone looking at her in awe, adoration and envy. She missed how they all parted when she walked by. But she never missed the gruelling schedule of the Cheerios, and the strict diet she was on.

The idea of screwing up her body now, was unthinkable to her.

And then there was Rachel Berry. Oh god, Rachel. If there was a choice of spending the day with the little Diva, and say, having all your teeth pulled out. Dentistry would win. She knew it was harsh, but the dark haired girl was so grating. Plus she'd tried to steal Finn from her, and had briefly dated Puck. She was there to mop up Quinn's sloppy seconds.

But no matter what Quinn would do or say to the other girl, she would always insist on talking to the blonde like they were friends. She was relentless. Some might say scrappy.

And she certainly would never have expected that one incident could cause the emotional domino effect that changed everything.

* * *

She and Puck were walking down the hall when Rachel, and her new boyfriend - the  _way_  too perfect Jesse St. James - joined them. Followed, possibly a smidge too soon, by Finn - who was bordering on stalking the brunette.

What the hell was it that made boys like her? Apart from her big mouth and no gag reflex.

Rachel had some lame idea for Regionals, and was trying to convince everyone it would look  _Spectacular!_ So far she'd convinced no one.

So while the brunette was talking ninety miles an hour, Quinn noticed one of the Jocks from the football team - whose name she never bothered remembering - heading towards them with a slushy in his hand, and sheer determination on his face. His clearly intended target, much to the disappointment of the blonde, was not in fact Rachel, but her. He moved liked a heat seeking missile and she was in his range. As he lifted up his arm to throw the beverage, Rachel jumped in front of her, and took the full hit.

Everybody started laughing, except Quinn. She walked around Rachel so that she could face her, and the Diva was standing stock still with her eyes closed, and her face still scrunched up, dripping corn syrup on the floor.

The blonde looked at the three male Gleeks, but they just shrugged and continued to laugh. So she grabbed the smaller girl and dragged her to the nearest bathroom, screaming at the juniors who were in there putting make up on - to get the hell out. And they weren't about to argue with a pregnant teen.

She grabbed Rachel by the forearms, and moved her to the sink, then took some paper towels from the dispenser and soaked them.

"Why did you do that?" She asked wiping the slushy from the smaller girls face.

"The boys didn't look like they were going to do it."

"So, what? You're like my white knight now? Rachel, you don't just do that kind of stuff. What's the ulterior motive for this?"

She pulled out another towel, soaking that one too.

"Ulterior motive? I did it to protect you. Do you really think I had time to consider the benefits of being hit in the face with a slushy? Oh, wait. That's right, there are no benefits. Just ice cold pain and an all round squelchy feeling"

Quinn silently continued to wash away the mess, wiping the eyes, so that the other girl would finally open them, when she did open them, she looked annoyed, but the blonde's first thought was that they looked like chocolate. And her sweet tooth was acting up again.

"Okay. Say I accept that you did it to protect me. Why would you? We don't exactly get along."

She took a third towel, and started washing out the long dark hair, thinking it would probably look nice up. Rachel does have nice hair, and maybe if it were in a ponytail, or a bun, then it would be easier to clean when she got slushied.

"We do have our moments Quinn." The Diva gave her a shy grin.

Okay, so as grating as Rachel Berry was, there was a percentage, a small one, maybe five, going up to perhaps eight percent, which was…

Endearing.

Which is very small amount in the grand scheme of things, really.

"So you're saying that you did it because we have on some very few occasions, been in the general area of civil towards one another?"

"No. Maybe. Look, I don't know why I did it. I barely had time to react to what I was doing. I just did it."

"But why?"

"Holy potatoes! I don't know." Rachel grabbed the paper towels Quinn was holding, and hurriedly wiped off as much slushy as she could then gave the taller girl a look that she couldn't read, and stormed out of the bathroom.

Now alone, Quinn stared at the soiled towels and then started to clean them up. When she was done, she looked at herself in the mirror, and frowned. Her face was getting fatter.

When she left the room she headed towards her locker, and saw Rachel taking out her spare clothes from her own then headed towards another bathroom, so the blonde followed her. She couldn't let this go.

She opened the door and Rachel was putting her stuff out onto the counter.

"Rachel?"

"Oh God!" The brunette groaned.

"Before you say anything, I only wanted to say what I should've said before, which is - Thank you." She said bending her head down. Cursing herself for acting so awkward in front of Rachel. When she looked up, she saw that the brunette was almost crying.

"What?" She ran through her previous sentence trying to figure out if there was something in what she'd said that might explain why Rachel was on the verge of tears.

"Jesse laughed. They all did!" The tiny brunette groaned.

Oh good, she hadn't said anything.

"I didn't." Quinn said moving closer the smaller girl.

"No. But there was a time - not that long ago - when you would have."

That stung. So she had to forcibly prevent herself from insulting the Diva, because whenever someone said anything she didn't like she went in to bitch mode. It was like one of those puffer fish; one sign of trouble, and  _Vumph_ , defences up. She took a deep breath.

"That's fair. But just because they laughed doesn't mean anything. Boys are juvenile idiots."

"I know that. I know that girls mature faster than boys. I've seen studies. But that doesn't make it hurt less that he didn't come to my aid. You did. And we aren't even friends!" Rachel waved her hand between them, as if she was indicating their lack of friendship.

Quinn wasn't especially good in these situations, but she felt the need to try and cheer the girl up. Because she took a slushy for her. A slushy. That was colossal.

Okay. So this was going to be small steps. The brunette hadn't really annoyed her in these last few minutes, so she would at least try and be nice.

Nicer. It was best if she didn't get too ahead of herself.

"You want me to slushy the three of them?"

Rachel laughed. Okay, this was progress. Sort of. "No. Although it would be fun. I can't get you to punish them for something that wasn't their fault."

"What about that guy who slushied you in the first place. We could do it to him. He's a prick anyway."

"Quinn!"

"What? He is!" She grinned.

"No. When this happens you just have to hold your head up high." Rachel said with a sad sigh.

"Take the high road." The blonde nodded sagely.

"Don't get on your high horse."

"Use high explosives."

They both laughed.

"I'll leave you to clean up and get changed. I really am thankful for what you did Rachel. You know it will happen again though, so do me a favour and not get in front of me when it does." The Diva's face fell, and Quinn's brain told her to make it right. "What I mean is. I feel bad about it. You already get more than your share, so I don't want you to take mine too."

"I couldn't stop myself though. So if I do, do it again, then I can't be held responsible. Okay?"

"Okay." The blonde smiled. "I'll see you at Glee?"

"Yeah." Rachel gave a little chuckle. "See you at Glee."

As Quinn made her way from the bathroom to her next class, she told herself that it hadn't been too difficult being nice to Rachel, but she had a feeling that the brunette might have some thoughts that they were moving into friendly territory, and she wasn't sure that was something she wanted, or, in reality, deserved. She decided that it might just be easier to ignore the Diva. Well not easier, Rachel was not an easy person to ignore. It would be  _better_  to ignore her. Yeah, that's it.

* * *

The next day, Quinn was surprised that Rachel barely acknowledged her. The singer had given her a timid smile and a nod when they passed each other in the hall but, that was it.

She left her final class of the day early because she was feeling like crap, and she was too hot and grumpy to care about what the teacher was saying. She figured she'd just go to the choir room early and work on some of her homework before everyone arrived. When she walked through the doors, her eyes immediately focused on the piano.

"What are you doing Rachel?" Quinn asked curiously. The singer was sitting on the piano bench staring at Brad - the ever present piano player - with glazed eyes. But the Diva ignored the question.

With a hint of instability, Rachel gently poked the pianists cheek with her index finger, and said "Ooh"

"Rachel!" Quinn shouted.

"Yeah?" The response was slow and tired.

"What the hell are you doing? You're making the guy uncomfortable. It's not enough that he has to put up with a bunch of highschoolers singing and dancing around him all the time, he has to be prodded too?" Quinn looked at Brad. The man gave her a smile

"I was just seeing if he was real." The brunette said simply. Like that was the most logical explanation in the world.

"Why would you need to check that?" Quinn asked; a little concerned that this was something that needed verification.

"Because I was thinking maybe he was God you know? He never speaks. You never do." She said turning back to him. He just smiled. "And, also, he's always around. At first I thought maybe it was for some unsavoury reason like he was a pervert or something, but that didn't make sense."

"You don't make sense Berry!"

Rachel ignored her and carried on with her thought. "So, I thought about it, and the only explanation I came up with was he was God. Like in that film where God plays skeeball, and gets hit by hockey sticks and is a coma and when he comes out of a coma he's Alanis Morissette, who needs Alan Rickman to speak for her because her voice would make everyone's head explode."

"You make my head explode." The blonde mumbled.

"So my conclusion was that Brad is God, and we are his skeeball. Also, he doesn't have his voice because his Alan Rickman isn't around. You know what I'd like to hear? Alan Rickman singing Ironic. I bet that would be the best thing ever. What do you think Brad/God?"

The pianist smiled and nodded.

"What the hell are you on?"

"Vicodin. Which do you prefer? Brad or God? How about Brod?"

"What!" Quinn yelled as she stormed towards the singer. "Oh my God Rachel. I'm taking you home."

"Okay." Rachel said happily. Then leaned into Brad and whispered, "It's a good thing she doesn't believe me eh? You're hair is so fluffy."

Another smile and nod.

Quinn grabbed Rachel's things and helped the other girl up, lending her shoulder for support. Which the brunette took gratefully before turning to the man. "Bye Brod!" She waved.

* * *

"Jesus Rachel. Why the hell did you take that stuff?" Quinn asked after she had put the other girl into her car.

"I didn't mean to! I just picked up what I thought were paracetamol from the medicine cabinet this morning, and it wasn't until I started feeling really odd I looked at the label properly."

Quinn sighed, and put the car into drive, she knew where Rachel lived, and she didn't bother asking. After a few moments she heard the girl next to her singing quietly, she couldn't tell what it was at first but then she became louder, and the blonde couldn't help but laugh when Rachel practically shouted,

"Fuck land, I'm on a boat mother fucker"

The singer stopped when she heard the laughter. "What?" She asked Quinn sulkily.

"Nothing. Just not the kind of song I expected you to sing."

"Yeah, well, it's catchy." She shrugged.

* * *

After getting Rachel into her house, she took the singer up to her room and plopped her on the bed.

"Button, button who's got the button. My money's on the witch. Red is a bad girl."

"What the hell are you talking about now?" Quinn asked, even though she knew.

"I don't know." Rachel was silent for a second. "Quinn?"

"Yeah?"

"When a double u is capitalised, should we call it double v?"

"I want to smack you right now."

"Go ahead I can't feel a thing."

Quinn got up on the bed and kneeled next to Rachel's lying form.

"Wait! Quinn, I was only kidding. I don't want you to hit me." Rachel shouted sticking her arms out in front of her and scrunching her eyes closed.

The blonde pushed down the outstretched arms. "I'm not going to hit you Berry. I'm just getting comfortable. I'm a pregnant girl you know."

"I know." Rachel leaned up slightly, and got close to the blonde's stomach. "Hello Baby!" She said before falling back down on the bed.

Quinn wanted to, really, really wanted to be genuinely annoyed with the brunette, she'd been far less annoying than this in the past for Quinn to get pissed off at her, but she couldn't do it. With her current state Rachel was more than the maximum eight percent endearing. Probably like fifty. Plus Quinn still felt a guilty twinge from the slushy incident yesterday, as well as grateful.

She was interrupted from her Rachel Berry adorableness thoughts by the girl talking again.

"When I'm hungry, and I can hear that gurgling sound, I always imagine wavy lines coming out of my stomach. Like Snoopy."

The blonde raised her eyebrows and smiled. "Me too."

"Really? I thought I was being weird."

"You are."

"I know. I talk too much and I don't think before I speak, and people find my honesty too much and I can't make any real friends because I always say things that other people find offensive. I don't mean it to come out like that. I do it because I'm nervous about not being liked, and then I say something in my nervous state that makes people not like me. And I'm too ambitious." She paused for a second and sighed. "I don't think it's so bad to want to get out of this place and be something. I don't want to be stuck here and end up being just another Lima Loser."

"What people don't like about you Rachel is that you do have the talent to get out of this place. There is only a small amount of people that have what you do, and drive that you have. The rest of us have to accept that we will probably stay here and get a low paid job, and live our lives wishing they had a fraction of the talent you do so they can get the hell out of this cow town. Plus you talk a lot, and you're a little crazy"

Rachel looked up at her, she didn't speak, just looked, and it was making Quinn uncomfortable, but she couldn't break the contact. It was like those dark brown eyes were penetrating her soul.

"I could take you to New York with me." The Diva said quietly, still gazing up at the other girl.

"And why would you do that?" Quinn asked bitterly.

"Because the idea of you having to stay  _here_ ," Rachel sneered when she said the word "Makes my heart wrench. You deserve more than that."

"It's probably exactly what I deserve." Quinn moved her position and mirrored Rachel's, lying very close to her, and looking up at the ceiling. She didn't pull away when the brunette intertwined their fingers.

"You haven't been insulting me as much recently." Rachel said casually.

"No."

"Why?"

"I don't know. I don't feel like it?" She shrugged.

"You are an intelligent young woman Quinn. Answering the question with 'I don't feel like it' is something a child would say, I know that you are evasive because you aren't comfortable with showing yourself to others, so I'm really not expecting you to tell me the whole reason, but I would expect you to give me a better one than 'I don't feel like it' So I'll ask again, why?"

Quinn sighed. "Maybe the baby has given me a soul." She answered.

"Like Darla?"

"Yes. Like Darla." When in doubt, go with a Joss Whedon-verse analogy.

"Well I do hope you don't plan on thrusting a wooden spike through your heart to forgo the birthing experience."

"No." Of course, sometimes the analogy can go too far.

"Good, because it would be very messy." Rachel hummed quietly to herself for a few seconds. "I don't think you were soulless before, just a cheerleader."

"Is there really much of a difference?"

"Maybe not."

They fell into silence. Still looking up at the ceiling, still holding hands. Quinn knew it wouldn't last, this was Rachel Berry after all.

"I wonder what Brod is doing now?" Rachel asked.

The pregnant girl laughed so much that tears ran down her face, and she was glad that it was one of the few times in the day when she didn't need to use the bathroom. After a few minutes she slowed down, but when Rachel started to chuckle she was gone again for another ten minutes. She squeezed the hand she was holding, and Rachel squeezed back. Eventually the laughter subsided and with the occasional sigh, she calmed herself down.

"That's the first time I've ever heard you laugh. A real laugh I mean." The brunette turned to face her.

"I don't remember the last time it happened. Probably before puberty hit."

"That's a shame. I enjoyed hearing it. I wish I could make you laugh like that all the time. I don't even remember what I said. Actually, I don't remember much of what I've said since I took those Vicodin"

"You remembered Brod."

"Brod! Yes. He is a ubiquitous being. He cannot fool me."

Quinn heard the front door close, but Rachel was still coming up with words to describe the pianist. She got up from the bed to head downstairs, reluctantly letting go of the other girl's hand, as she was walking out she heard Rachel say "Omnipotent" and she chuckled. The tall African American man didn't look up when he heard the footsteps on the stairs.

"Hello Sweetie. How was your day?" The man asked.

"Um."

"Oh." He said when he looked up at the girl who was definitely not his daughter. "Hello. Where's Rachel?" His voice was soft and low.

"Sir, she accidently took some Vicodin whilst in school, I had to bring her home."

"Accidently?" He asked suspiciously.

"Yes Sir. She said that she had taken them this morning from the medicine cabinet."

"I knew I should've kept those in our bedroom. How is she?"

"A little loopy Sir."

"What's your name?"

She hesitated, she had made Rachel's life a living hell and she probably told her dads everything. "Quinn Fabray Sir."

"Well Quinn. I don't want to seem rude, but if you don't stop calling me Sir, then I'm going to have to be a little annoyed with you, because it makes me feel old, and when I feel old, I go through a whole container of cookie dough ice cream, and then I feel old, and fat. Call me David, please."

Quinn laughed; she was doing that a lot today. "Sorry." She put her hands over her swollen stomach. "But you should try being six months pregnant. That makes you feel fat. And now you made me want ice cream."

David Berry's laugh was loud and deep, and eerily calming. Quinn thought that you could put it on a CD and play it to help you get to sleep.

"We have some in the freezer. If you get it, you can eat as much as you like."

"No, that's okay, I don't want to intrude."

"Nonsense. You took care of my baby, you didn't have to. Stay, if you can of course. It would be nice to meet a friend of Rachel's."

"Okay. Thanks." How could she refuse that? No one could refuse this man.

"I have to check on my girl. Our house isn't too big, so I think you should be able to find everything."

Quinn walked through the hall looking at the photos on the wall of the Berry family, she stopped and looked at one of Rachel when she was young, six maybe, she had a wide grin plastered across her face, probably because she was missing her front teeth, and was proud that she was finally becoming a big girl. She went through the progression of the Diva's life on the wall, ending on the one next to the kitchen. It wasn't a portrait, it was her, and who Quinn guessed was her other father sitting on a bench in a park, she was looking at the other man seemingly unaware of the camera, and she was laughing, her hand was on her stomach, like she was trying to hold it all in, Quinn only thought that because that's how she had felt only a few minutes ago. It was like you were laughing so much your insides couldn't cope and needed to escape this amazing torture.

"That's my favourite picture of her." She turned and looked at David Berry smiling. "She's so beautiful when she's not concerned with how people perceive her, and is just natural."

"Yes, she is." Quinn mentally froze, wondering why she had said that, and if the man beside her was wondering just what kind of  _friend_  she was to his daughter. "How is she?" She asked quickly.

"Awake. She's talking about Brod the Supreme Being, then she started singing _'Brad the God, Brad the God, Never speaks, he'll only nod'_ I can honestly say I came away feeling totally confused. Do you know what she's talking about?"

"How crazy would you think I am if I said yes?"

"Not crazy, just privy to information about my daughter that I'm not. And that's fine. As long as  _she's_  not going crazy. So, ice cream?"

She gave him a shy smile. "Yes. That sounds amazing right now."

 


	2. Two

Quinn was in the den of the Berry home, drinking hot chocolate and sitting on the most comfortable chair in the world. She'd eaten her ice cream, two portions of it in fact, and had stayed long enough to meet David's husband Lucas.

Rachel's parents were nice. A hell of a lot nicer than her parents, if Judy and Russell had found a strange girl in their house they probably would've thrown her out.  _Especially_  if that girl was Rachel Berry.

But these two men welcomed her into their home without question and then fed her. She did consider asking them if Rachel had ever mentioned her, she was one of the primary assailants on their daughters daily abuse after all, but she thought better of it though.

The den had a smell to it, she couldn't put her finger on what the aroma was, but it was definitely very pleasant. So the smell coupled with the worlds most relaxing chair made her come to the conclusion that this, was in fact, the best room on earth.

Was this a bold statement? Probably. Quinn's experience when it came to any place outside of Lima, Ohio was very limited. In all likelihood the pregnancy hormones were a factor in this decision, but regardless of that, she still stood by the statement.

"I think I want to marry this chair." She said after sinking into it happily.

"Sorry Kiddo," David laughed, "You're going to have to get in line."

"I guess I'll just have to settle on having an affair, I hope you don't mind."

"No. But just so you know, she'll let anyone sit on her."

"So she's easy, just the way I like 'em" She laughed at her own statement, this was certainly a very weird conversation. One of many she'd had today. She took a sip from her mug and shifted herself again, no matter what position she got in it felt like heaven. It was liked being hugged by Angels, fluffy bunnies and Mr. Snuffleupagus all at once. "I wish my parents had a chair like this, all the furniture in their house is about the aesthetic, not about the practicality."

"Do you resent your parents for kicking you out?" It seemed that Lucas Berry had the same problem with tact that Rachel has. He received a stern talking to from his husband.

"I'm sorry Quinn," David started "My husband has a tendency to turn his brain filter off."

"Sounds like someone else I know." She chuckled when they both nodded their head in agreement, "But its okay. People don't talk to me about what my parents did, I think they figure if they don't bring up the subject that I'll just forget it happened." She fidgeted with her cardigan for a second wondering if it was a good idea, talking about something so personal to people she didn't know. The fact that the two men weren't judging her and the comfort she felt being in the room made her  _want_  to talk about it, so she continued. "To answer your question, yes, I do resent them. I made a mistake and they abandoned me because of it, they abandoned me because I made them look bad to all their peers. I still love them, in a way, but I really don't like them very much."

The conversations continued, the topic of staying with Puck came up, she jokingly said how much she missed bacon and David laughed.

"I know what you mean." The taller man said. "I respect my family not to eat it in our home, but I have been given permission to eat it outside of the house. We should make a lunch date Quinn. There's a place in town that makes the best, and I'm not exaggerating, best, bacon rolls. I think they lace it with something, but I don't care."

Quinn laughed. "Sounds good. Sometimes, I could literally kill for one. But that's more than likely the pregnancy hormones. They make a girl do crazy things. I wonder how many women have actually killed because of that?" It was more of a rhetorical question, but it caused a discussion with the two men for almost twenty minutes.

She looked at the clock and couldn't believe she'd been there for almost three hours. "I really should go. Puck doesn't know where I am, he's probably worried, and we weren't in Glee. Mr Schuester's probably worried too, Rachel never misses practice."

She resentfully got up from the comfortable chair and headed upstairs to get her bag, Rachel was in her night clothes and under the blankets, still awake. She was holding a hand up and staring at her palm, Quinn resisted the urge to make her slap her own face.

"What's so interesting about your hand?"

"I was trying to figure out how many lines there are, but I keep losing count."

The blonde took a deep, shaky sigh and repeated,  _'Rachel Berry is not cute. Rachel Berry is not cute_ ' in her head.

"Hmm. Well, I'm about to go. How are you feeling now?"

"Okay." Rachel stopped staring at her hand and rubbed her face. "I'm really itchy." She said looking up at Quinn when she was done.

The pregnant girl sat on the edge of the bed next to the brunette and brushed away the hair from her eyes. She'd done it unconsciously, Rachel was so childlike in this state Quinn's maternal instincts kicked in before she could stop herself from performing the simple gesture.

The Diva smiled up at her lazily and said, "We're even now."

"How so?"

"One act of kindness for another."

"I'm not sure that we're exactly even, I mean I don't need a change of clothes and a shower."

"No, but you didn't have to bring me home. You could've taken me to the nurse or just let Mr. Schuester deal with me."

"Maybe next time I will do that." She said softly.

"Oh no. There won't be a next time, I've learned my lesson. Always read the label."

"That's very wise."

Rachel's eyes became unfocused for a second and then she rubbed her face again. "You're bag's been ringing for a really long time." She said once she'd finished scratching.

Quinn picked up her backpack and took out her phone. Twenty two missed calls from Puck and Santana and thirty seven texts, she could only see Pucks I.D, the last one saying.  _Oh my god r u dead?_

"You could've answered it Rachel."

"No! I'm not going into your bag, its private."

"Didn't you get suspicious when the phone kept ringing?" Quinn asked quietly. She was surprised that Rachel had let the ringing go on for so long. If it had been her she wouldn't have cared about privacy issues, she'd just want the damn noise to stop. But, she guessed, that's where her and the brunette differed.

"No. You are popular after all. I just thought that's what a popular kid's phone must sound like."

"I  _was_  popular. Past tense."

"Oh. Well my bad."

"That's okay" She laughed and pressed the send button, she only had to wait a second before Puck answered.

"Hi, Puck."

" _Where the hell are you? I've been calling you for hours. My mom is worried sick."_

"I'm at Rachel's, sorry."

" _Why the hell are you at Berry's house?"_

"I had to take her home, she wasn't feeling well."

" _Did you poison her or something?"_

"No, I did not poison her!" Rachel laughed. "I'll be home soon okay. You can stop worrying. Bye."

She pressed the end button and sighed. She didn't want to go back to the ridiculously depressing Puckerman residence, but she knew she had to. She stood up and put her bag over her shoulder. "See you tomorrow Berry."

"You betcha." Rachel bobbed her head enthusiastically.

She went into the den to say goodbye to David and Lucas. "Thank you so much for your hospitality, and your ice cream. I had a nice time."

"That's good to hear, and you're welcome."

The two men saw her out, and as she drove off she thought to herself that today had turned out to be a good day, they had become increasing less frequent of late and she learned how to relish them when they actually came along.

* * *

During lunch the next day Quinn was standing by her locker, in the unusually quiet hall waiting for Puck, she caught some movement from the corner of her eye and turned to look. She frowned when she saw that there was nothing there and shrugged it off, she opened her locker to take out her lunch and a flash of colour came into her peripheral, she turned again and saw nothing, again. She grunted as she slammed her locker shut, "JewFro, if that's you, I'm kicking your ass." She waited a few seconds but didn't get a reply. There was the possibility that she was going crazy. Her phone beeped informing her of a message, she opened it up and read the text from Puck.

_Sorry babe cant make it_

She snapped her phone shut and mumbled "Asshat"

She heard a clunk from near by, some bastard was trying to mess with her and if that bastard was Puck, she would have no qualms about cutting him. She took a step back and saw an argyle sleeve hiding around the corner; she didn't bother trying to keep the smile from spreading across her face. She went back to her previous position by the locker.

"Rachel? What are you doing? Are you high again?"

"No, I am definitely substance free. I was just wondering if I could borrow you for a sec?" The brunette answered not moving from behind the wall.

Quinn was curious as to why the singer was hiding; this was not necessarily the actions of a drug free individual, or sane one for that matter. She gave an exaggerated sigh and said, "I might go crazy Berry, and let you borrow me for lots of secs."

No. She did not just say that. Confirmation came when Rachel's head shot around the corner with a look of confusion and mirth. The blonde banged her head on her locker door, over, and over and over again. That'll teach her to be flippant.

"Quinn! Stop that!" Rachel said going back behind the corner.

"Why do I speak?"

"It's fine. I knew what you meant. But I would still like to speak to you."

"About what?" The pregnant girl had stopped banging against the locker door, but she kept her forehead pressed against the cool metal, trying to extinguish the warmth radiating from her face.

Rachel was feeling bold. "Well, it's not about the amount of secs you can give me." She held her breath. This could go very, very wrong. The sound of an almost thunderous laugh made her squeal a little in excitement. She had made Quinn Fabray laugh without the aid of any kind of drug enhancement.

She moved away from the wall and stepped out in full view. The blonde was bent over with an arm covering her swollen belly. People passing by were giving her strange looks, but put it down to the pregnancy. Rachel was brimming with courage and went to stand next to the laughing girl and leaned against the locker bank. Quinn grabbed hold of the Diva's wrist, not viciously, it seemed to Rachel that it was more for support. Like without holding on to her the pregnant girl would just crumple like a flower.

This continued for another few minutes, and all the singer could do was smile her biggest, proudest smile and be there to keep the other girl from collapsing. The laughter became sporadic, until it finally ceased. Quinn lifted herself into a stand and fell back against the lockers.

"That's twice in the space of twenty four hours. You're like a comedy ninja, Berry. I think you deserve a medal for that."

Rachel smiled. She wasn't sure if Quinn was aware that she still had hold of her wrist and she wasn't going to bring attention to it in case the blonde let go.

"You wanted to talk to me about something right?" The blonde's mouth twitched.

"Yes. My Dad asked me to ask you if you wanted to go to lunch. Something about bacon. He said you'd know. He's picking me up now if you'd like to come. You don't have to if you don't want to of course, you probably have plans with-"

"Berry!"

"Yes. Sorry. Yes." Rachel said and started biting her bottom lip.

"You had me at bacon."

The singer stopped worrying her lip and broke into a smile. Quinn looked down at her hand that was still attached to the Diva and furrowed her brow for a split second then looked back up to the other girl. "Lets go then."

Rachel let herself be practically dragged down the corridor as the blonde headed outside. "Is he here?" She asked looking around the parking lot. Rachel pointed to the car parked nearby and Quinn bolted for it. She opened the back door and David Berry gave her a toothy grin.

"Hello  _Sir_."

His smile faded dramatically. "I know what you're doing Quinn Fabray. Get in."

Rachel wanted to sit in the back with Quinn, but her self-assurance was waning now so she went up front.

"How has your day been girls?"

"Good." Rachel said.

"Really good." Quinn said. The singer looked behind at the blonde in the back seat and suddenly felt shy when she saw the girl smile at her.

"Excellent." The man sing-songed, as he drove off.

* * *

"I've died. And this is heaven." Quinn said holding up her bacon roll triumphantly.

David and Rachel laughed, the blonde was on her third roll in less than ten minutes, and there was no sign of her stopping anytime soon.

"You'll get hiccups or indigestion if you're not careful." David said taking a bite of his first.

"Mr. Berry." Quinn said as she leaned across the table. "I am quite pregnant. I laugh mockingly in the face of hiccups and indigestion. And besides, if I don't eat these quickly then there won't be time for ice cream."

"I can't argue with that." He shrugged.

Rachel was sitting quietly and swinging her legs because the chairs were just a little too high for her to reach the floor. She was eating her own salad lunch while the other two ate their bacon. Every now and then they would look over to her and smile and she would smile back. She wanted to scream "I'm so happy right now." But that would be too weird.

"You okay sweetie? You're unusually quiet."

"Yes Dad, I'm okay. I'm enjoying my lunch." She rolled her eyes at him.

"That told you" Quinn smirked at the man then shoved the rest of her roll in her mouth. She chewed as little as possible then swallowed. She hadn't chewed enough though and had to use her water to force the rest down. "I'm done." She said, then held her breath to try and prevent herself from hiccupping, before taking another gulp of water.

"You're looking very impatient Miss Fabray." The tall man said with a glint in his eye.

"That's because I'm feeling impatient. You know, you shouldn't keep hormonally charged girls waiting."

"We do it with Rachel all the time." David said nonchalantly.

"Dad!" The Diva looked mortified.

Quinn laughed and put her elbows on the table and her chin in her hands. She squinted at David and watched him eat his food at leisurely pace. He put the last piece of bread in his mouth slowly, looking directly at the blonde. "You are a cruel man." She huffed.

He chewed, counting up to twenty five with his fingers and swallowed. "Okay, I'm done." He smirked.

"Finally!" Quinn jumped from her seat and ran to the car, then came back, picked up her bag and ran off again.

"I like your friend Honey." He said clearing the table.

"Me too." Rachel nodded at him, before walking over to the blonde standing by the locked car.

* * *

"So, what are you like BFF's now?" Santana scoffed.

Quinn had her head down, she was drawing in her notebook to pass the time before their teacher arrived for the first class after lunch. "No. But she's grown on me."

"Three days ago you could barely stand to be in the same room as her. So what changed?"

"I don't know. I got to know her better."

"I would've thought that would be a reason to stay away from her."

"I like Rachel." The two girls looked to Brittany. "She's sweet, in a scarily intense way. And she has an awesome singing voice. She's so small, sometimes I wish I could put her in my pocket, but I'd probably get tired of her talking all the time, and she'd probably complain about being in my pocket. Sometimes I put my old chewing gum in there when I can't find a trash can."

Quinn and Santana waited to see if there was anymore, and when they were confident the monologue was over they continued the conversation.

"I just don't get it Q. At least you can't really get any lower on the social ladder right now, so it won't affect you there."

All heads turned to the door as the teacher walked in.

"Buenos días class."

"Buenos días Mr. Schuester." The classroom chorused.

"Is this some sort of prank?" Santana asked turning back to face the pregnant girl.

"No. She's nice, I like her."

"Uh, she not nice. She obnoxious, bossy, self-centred, and you do remember her telling Finn about the baby so she could get her manly hands on him?"

"She apologised for that."

"It wasn't like it was a slip of the tongue. She went out of her way to do it. That's malicious!"

"And we're so damned sweet and innocent!" Quinn snapped.

"She almost cost us sectionals because of it." Santana continued undeterred.

"The leaked set list was quite a big factor in that disaster." She said quirking an eyebrow.

Santana rubbed Brittany's arm when the blonde Cheerio whimpered, then she gave Quinn a warning look.

"And anyway," The smaller blonde continued. "She ended up saving us at sectionals."

"Fine. Yeah okay, she did."

"She's different when you get to know her."

"Because… you and her have been friends for so long now. What's it been? Four hours?"

Quinn banged her head against the desk.

"Girls? Eyes front please." Mr. Schuester said tapping the white board.

" _Culo_ " Santana mumbled under her breath.

* * *

When she walked into the auditorium during lunch the next day, Quinn could see Rachel's small figure sitting on the edge of the stage. Having Puck cancel on her again, she decided to actively seek the other girl out. She made her way down to the pit and the brunette only noticed she was there when she was directly in front her. Rachel pulled out her earphones and smiled.

"Hey." Quinn murmured.

"Hey back." Rachel half smiled.

"Mind if I join you?"

"No, of course not." The brunette patted the stage.

The blonde made her way up the steps and sat a foot away from the Diva, letting her legs dangle over the side. She opened up the brown paper bag pulling out her banana and sandwich, opting to go with the fruit first. She felt a little nervous. This was the first time they'd be hanging out without Rachel being high, or having her Dad as a buffer.

Halfway through eating her banana, an earphone was offered over to her and she frowned at the white bud, then looked up at the brunette.

"If you're worried that all I have on my IPod are show tunes, don't, I do enjoy all genres, including contemporary music too. Here," Rachel handed the blonde her MP3 "You can choose."

Quinn put the bud in her ear and pressed shuffle. She skipped the first song, took a bite from her banana, then skipped the next one, and the next. It wasn't that she didn't like the songs, she didn't know them. Rachel's tastes were certainly eclectic. When the next song came on she laughed and gave Rachel an amused look.

"What?" The Diva asked smiling. "Sometimes ' _Hakuna Matata'_  is just what a girl needs to brighten up her day."

Quinn nodded and skipped the song anyway taking another bite of her food. When ' _On My Own'_  came on she let it play, which clearly surprised the other girl, but she just shrugged and finished off the fruit putting the empty peel into the brown paper bag. She un-wrapped the foil from the sandwich she'd been putting off and stared at it for a few seconds. She really wished that Mrs. Puckerman didn't insist on making her lunch, because it was always made with processed meat and cheap butter substitute. The woman thought that a TV dinner was a healthy option for a pregnant teen, she missed real food. She wished that she could cook so that she could  _eat_  real food.

She took one bite of the sandwich and groaned, feeling nauseas.

"What's the matter?" Rachel asked moving closer to the blonde. "Is it the baby?"

Quinn looked at the brunette whose eyes were wide with concern. "It's okay Berry, it's just that baby doesn't like my food."

"Oh good." Rachel sagged with relief. "Not 'oh good' that the baby doesn't like your food," She corrected "I mean 'oh good' that there's nothing wrong." The brunette shook her head slightly and chuckled. "Would you like some of my pasta salad? Or I could get you something from the cafeteria if you'd like?"

"No. It's okay."

"Quinn. You really need to keep your strength up, it is imperative for the well being of your child that you eat properly. Please take my salad." Rachel handed her the tub and a fork. "Please." She said again in a softer tone.

"Thank you." The blonde said taking the food grudgingly. "I'd offer you what I have, but it's supposed to be ham."

"Supposed to be?"

"It's not real meat." The blonde said curling her lip in disgust. "Thank you again." Rachel nodded, and Quinn opened up the container, stabbing the pasta with the fork. She was hesitant, but she was also hungry and was pleasantly surprised that it tasted so good. She had forgotten that she was listening to music until the next song came on, which again, she didn't know, but she was too busy eating actual food to care.

"Would you like me to skip it?"

She turned to face Rachel and shook her head. "No, there's no harm in expanding my musical repertoire. This is really good by the way. Did you make it?" She asked lifting up the tub.

"Yes." The brunette blushed.

"Maybe you can come over and forcibly teach Puck's mom to cook. I think the extent of her ability is grilled cheese. Which she doesn't do very often. I think that's 'Special occasion' food."

"She can't be that bad surely?"

"It is that bad. And don't call me Shirley."

Rachel giggled. "That was terrible."

"Yes. You still laughed though." The blonde pointed a finger at her accusingly.

There was a beat of silence before Rachel said "Dad has taken a shine to you."

"Okay." Quinn smiled at the change of subject. "The feeling is mutual."

"Do you like potato dumplings?"

"You should really go see someone about your A.D.D."

Rachel crossed her arms over her chest and huffed. "I do not have Attention Deficit Disorder."

"You keep changing the subject. That leads me to believe that you lack concentration."

"If you'd let me finish my sentence then you'd realise that it's all relative."

"Fine. Finish your sentence."

Rachel looked over at the blonde, keeping her gaze for several seconds before continuing.

"The only reason we eat so much take out is because we are all very busy people, there's hardly enough hours in the day to cook and it is very time consuming. But every Friday, one of us makes a meal. Tonight is Daddy's turn, he was taught how to cook by his Gramma Gerdy so most of his specialities are German-"

"Rachel!"

"Yes?"

"Is there a point to this?"

"Would you like to come over for dinner tonight?" The Diva blurted out, her hand flying up to tug on her lip nervously.

"Oh!" Quinn's eyebrows shot up in surprise. "Actually, I think I would."

"Really?" Rachel asked, relaxing at the other girls acceptance of her offer.

"I would like to eat something that doesn't come pre-packed in a plastic tray, and I like your Dad's, they're nicer and less depressing than Mrs. Puckerman. So yeah, I think I would."

The Diva smiled and pulled an apple from her bag, rubbing it on her sweater. "Great."

"Oh! And I can get to sit on your slutty chair again."

Rachel turned to look at the blonde with a frown. "My what?"

Ah, that's right, Rachel hadn't been there. "The armchair in the den." Quinn said, barely suppressing the chuckle at the adorably confused look she received in response to her answer.

" _My chair?_  Why are you implying that  _my_  chair is sexually promiscuous?"

"Uh. It's a joke between me and your dads. It is a compliment, I swear."

"Hmm. Okay then." The Diva seemed to go into her own world for a few moments then snapped her head back to face the blonde. "So. Can you come over around six?"

Quinn had a mouth full of pasta, so she nodded her reply. Her body was tingling from excitement. Who would've thought that the idea of spending time with Rachel Berry would cause such a reaction?

She didn't want to dwell on it too much though. It could get her into trouble.

 


	3. Three

After her lunch with Rachel, the rest of Quinn's afternoon went by relatively uneventful, Coach Sylvester laughed at her for being unable to walk without waddling, and Miss Pillsbury cornered her asking her if she wanted to talk about Sue's unpleasant behaviour towards her. She declined, the Cheerio's coach had called her worse things before her lapse in judgment turned her 'Fat Day' into the mother of all 'Fat Days'

She refused the offer from Brittany to hang out with her and Santana after school, she lied saying that she was feeling tired and her pillow was calling out to her. The look of relief from the Latina when she told the blonde cheerleader this didn't go unnoticed. Like she wants to be third wheel anyway.

She went straight to Puck's when school finished, dumping her bag on the floor and collapsing onto the small bed. She had some time before little Maya came home and Puck's Mom would wake up from her daily afternoon nap, so she took that opportunity to bask in the peacefulness of the house before getting ready for dinner at Rachel's.

Wow, there was something she never thought she'd be doing, or look forward to doing. She pretty much had a two track mind lately. Hungry and horny, and neither one had been satisfied at all these last few months, so the thought of a proper home cooked meal made her mouth water. As for the constant arousal, well that was something that would have to be locked up in a little box, somewhere in the back of her mind. She closed her eyes and thought of potato dumplings.

She heard a bang from somewhere and bolted upright looking around the room like a rabbit sensing danger, then when she heard the familiar sound of Puck's little sister running down the basement steps, she slumped and looked at the clock in the corner with a frown. God damn it, she'd fallen asleep for almost an hour. Well at least she hadn't really lied to Brittany now.

The young girl bounded up to her and smiled mischievously before shouting, "Epic Quinn!"

"Maya, stop calling me that." She could kill Puck for coming up with that name for her. Especially in front of an impressionable eleven year old who was ready to absorb all types of new information. "Did you have a good day at school?" She asked ruffling the girl's hair.

The littlest Puckerman scrunched up her face, slapping the hand away from her head. "Yeah. Matthew Parker's hamster, Jasper escaped from its cage during second period and our teacher Mr. Tobin had to try and catch it. It was really funny, he was running around all over the place, he caught Jasper but then he fell down."

"Oh no. Is he alright?"

Maya had her hand in her pocket and was digging around like she was looking for gold. "Hmm?"

"Is he alright?" Quinn asked again with a smile. She could only hope her daughter turned out to be as cute as the little girl in front of her, with the trademark Puckerman soulful eyes, and far too cheeky grin.

"No. He died."

The blonde gaped at the girl. "Mr. Tobin died?"

"No!" Maya scoffed. "Jasper died. Pay attention. Puck said the baby has turned your brain to mush."

"Did he now?" Quinn asked narrowing her eyes.

"Yeah." The girl nodded. She knew she was getting her brother into trouble. "Mom asked me to come get you."

"Tell her I'll be up in a minute."

"Okay." And the little girl ran back up the basement stairs, tripping halfway but carrying on like nothing had happened.

Quinn stood up and stretched her back, no sixteen year old should have back ache like this, even if they are pregnant. She made her way to the living room and Ruth had her feet up watching some generic TV game show. The lady knew her general knowledge. She asked Mrs. Puckerman once why she didn't apply to go on one of those shows because she would totally kick trivia's ass, but Ruth said that she didn't think she was that good. Quinn would later work out that she was agoraphobic, and wouldn't even leave the house to go and see her own daughter in the starring role of the school's production of Aladdin.

"You wanted to see me?" She asked sitting next to the woman.

"You make it sound so formal Quinn; I just wanted to know how your day was."

"It was okay actually."

"Good. Did you enjoy your lunch?"

"Yes, it was lovely thank you." No, it was horrible and she threw it away. Not even a dog would eat it.

"I'm glad to hear it." Mrs. Puckerman looked at her and her face became serious. "You can't make it a habit though Quinn, I can't allow non kosher food in the house, it was a one off occasion because of the situation at the time."

"I understand. I promise it won't happen again."

"Do you have anything planned for tonight?" The woman asked turning back to the TV.

"Yes, I'm going over to a friend's house for dinner."

"That's nice. Which friend?"

"Santana." Quinn wasn't quite ready to admit out loud that she was willingly going over to Rachel's, although Ruth Puckerman would probably approve.

"You shouldn't spend so much time with that Lopez girl, she's a bad influence."

"We've been friends since we were in kindergarten." She and the Latina may not always get along, but they had each other's back when it was needed and calling her a 'bad influence' was probably an over exaggeration. She was almost certain of that. "I have to get ready." She got up giving the woman a smile and headed back down to the basement, locking the door behind her.

She opened up the suitcase and looked at the minimal amount of clothes she owned that actually fit her. She shoved her hand in and pulled a dress out at random. "That'll do." It didn't matter; all her clothes looked much the same anyway. Once she was ready, she got on the bed and closed her eyes for a second.

* * *

David and Lucas Berry weren't idiots. They were more than aware that their daughter was… Socially inept. And they took responsibility for a certain amount of it.

From the moment she came into the world four weeks early she was spoiled, they wanted her to have opportunities in life, putting her into dancing classes, singing classes and martial arts classes. The latter because it was a small town in Ohio and they knew what kind of backlash having two gay fathers would have on her. They didn't condone violence, but that didn't mean they would allow their little girl to be defenceless when - and not if - she got bullied. They also wanted her to be confident and never afraid to be herself. And for good or bad, that's how she turned out.

Even though they never brought it up to Rachel, they did worry at her lack of friends. Boyfriends didn't fall into this category, and they couldn't find themselves happy that she had Jesse because the guy is a schmuck. So when their daughter had asked them if she could invite Quinn over for dinner tonight, they were relieved. They knew the history between them, and when Rachel told them about revealing the true paternity to Finn they grounded her for a month. Lucas was so furious with her he refused to speak to her for days. After that, when she spoke about the pregnant girl it was always with some sadness, and she talked about the baby a lot. It was like she'd realised that it was actually a living being. And even though it didn't come across, she was a very nurturing individual.

When the blonde turned up she was ten minutes late. "I'm so sorry." She apologised to Lucas when he answered the door looking mildly annoyed, wearing a suggestive apron involving sausages, but gave her a knowing smile when she said "I keep falling asleep today, I don't know what's wrong with me."

He led her into the kitchen and she sat down on one of the dining chairs as he went back to the cooker. "That's the thing about babies," He said stirring the pot and bringing the spoon to his mouth, blowing it a few times. "They feed off your energy like a parasite."

She pursed her lips and frowned at him. Her baby wasn't a parasite. Except if you looked in a dictionary then yeah, technically it was.

David walked in during his husband's last statement and slapped him on the arm. "Way to make pregnancy sound like an episode of the X Files Luke." The taller man looked at Quinn and rolled his eyes. "Brain filter, remember?" And he tapped the side of his head to emphasise.

She laughed. "I remember."

"I hope you brought your oversized party pants Kiddo, when my husband cooks, it's enough to feed an army."

"Don't need oversized party pants I'm wearing a dress, and the freeloader in my stomach helps out too."

"Handy little blighters aren't they." He went over to the fridge and opened it, flicking the bulb to bring on the light. "Drink? We have water, O.J, apple juice or milk."

"Water's good."

David took out the bottle and handed it over to her. "Rachel will be down soon. She's, doing... something." He exhaled. "I don't know what." He really didn't know what, but he did know that his daughter was very nervous about the blonde coming over. The three of them heard Rachel running down the stairs and then walk into the kitchen as casually as she could. The Diva didn't pull off a laid back attitude very well, even in her most relaxed state there was an underlying hum of energy.

"Hey." Quinn gave the other girl a smile.

"Hey back." The brunette waved, and then put her hand down quickly. She turned to the smaller man cooking and asked, "Is dinner nearly ready?"

"No. It'll be another thirty minutes."

She jutted out her lower lip, pouting. "But I'm hungry now."

"You cannot rush perfection little lady, you're just going to have to wait." Lucas said waving the handle of the wooden spoon at her, getting the sauce over his apron.

"You asked if dinner was going to be ready soon an hour ago. You're not normally this hungry. Is everything alright?" David leaned against the breakfast bar putting his hands in his pockets. He caught the look Rachel gave Quinn and frowned when she responded.

"I just worked out extra hard today. Now I'm hungry."

"You are a terrible liar Rachel Barbara Berry."

The Diva's eyes went wide; she knew she was in trouble when her full name was used. She opened her mouth to say something but all that came out was, "Uh." Then she closed it again. Apparently she'd only had the one lie in her, honesty was one of the many qualities of her personality that she was proud of, and why being a politician was never one of her back up careers if Broadway didn't work out.

"She gave her food to me lunch time." The blonde said feeling guilty. "She felt sorry for me because Puck's Mom made me some pretty unappetising ham sandwiches and I almost threw up they were so disgusting."

David quirked an eyebrow and stopped himself from smiling. "We appreciate the over-share. Thank you very much." He looked to his daughter, who at least had the decency to look embarrassed and shook his head. "You didn't need to lie honey."

"I know. I'm sorry."

"Wait!" Lucas blurted out, and laughed nervously at suddenly being the centre of attention. "The Puckerman's are Jewish, why did she give you ham?"

"While we were at the store the other day, I may have had a 'pregnant moment' in the cooked meat section."

"What exactly does a 'pregnant moment' entail?"

"Mostly crying, with the occasional sob."

David laughed. "Oh my God, you emotionally blackmailed the woman for a bit of pig didn't you?"

"No! She just realised that it was the only thing that was going to stop me blubbering. She picked up the cheapest one though; I don't think it contained a whole lot of actual meat." She stuck her tongue out and made gagging noises.

"You are very bad Quinn." Lucas wagged the spoon at the blonde, getting even more sauce on him. "You're lucky ham is easy to resist."

"Resist?" The taller man asked his husband. "Doesn't being Jewish automatically mean you just don't eat anything that isn't kosher?"

"Well, yeah." Lucas was looking down at his apron and trying to wipe away the mess, however all that accomplished was that it spread the stain out more. "But it helps that ham doesn't really look particularly appealing, and pork when it's cooking smells like burning flesh. Do you know how hard it is to be a good Jew with the smell of frying bacon? It is extremely difficult."

"You never mentioned this before." The taller man said looking confused.

"You never asked?"

"I didn't know I needed to after twenty years of marriage. How do I know that you don't go off to eat it somewhere undercover of darkness in a shroud of secrecy?"

"What? You think all the bad Jews in town hang out in packs and go to some back ally bacon van near the trailer park willing to pay extortionate prices to get their fix?"

"Not bad Jews Honey, easily led. You did seem to go into more detail there than necessary though, it makes me wonder if there really is some shady enterprise over on the wrong side of Lima, preying on all you guilt ridden Jews."

"I feel like I should be very offended by that." Lucas frowned.

"But you're not, because you love me and you know I'm only kidding." David went up to his husband and wrapped his arms around him, placing a kiss on his cheek.

"Urgh. I don't need to see this." Rachel started moving towards the door. "Quinn, would you like to join me the den?"

"Aww, they're so cute. Why would you not need to see this?" The blonde looked at the couple. Her parents never did this.

The Diva smirked. "I don't know, I'd rather watch a movie in my cosy chair."

This got the other girl's attention. In seconds she was charging out of the room past a bewildered brunette who took a moment to realise what happened, and ran after her. From the kitchen, the two men heard,

"You can't just commandeer my chair Quinn! It's improper social practice."

"I'm pregnant damn it! I deserve comfort."

David sighed letting go of his husband and made his way to the other room to control the teenagers that were bickering. He leaned against the doorway watching with amusement as the two girls sat squashed together in the chair with Rachel trying to get the remote from the blonde who had it held above her head.

"You have an unfair advantage. Give it to me." The brunette groaned, grasping at the air ineffectually.

"It's not my fault your little arms can't reach that high." And the blonde blew a raspberry in the other girls face.

The man knocked on the door and the girls froze. "I never thought I'd have to say this to anyone over the age of nine, but do I need to separate you two?"

"No." They both said quickly, sitting with their hands in their lap and wearing innocent smiles.

He shook his head and went back out to the kitchen to keep his husband company. "Honey?"

"Yeah?" Lucas wiped his hands on a cloth and smiled up at him.

"How do you know what burning flesh smells like?"

* * *

Dinner at the Fabray house was always such a sombre affair; Quinn wasn't really permitted to talk unless it was 'Could you pass the carrots please?' or if her father asked her a question. Her parents on the other hand could talk as much as they wanted, and that was usually more excruciating than the silence. And meal time at the Puckerman's was quiet, but that was only because everyone's attention was on the TV. So she didn't think it was possible to have any kind of fun while eating dinner, but she was laughing so hard she hadn't been able to swallow the food that had been in her mouth for the last ten minutes and she wasn't being scolded for it, in fact the two men were practically encouraging her.

She'd laughed more in the last three days than she had in the last sixteen years. And it was all Rachel Berry's fault.

Rachel, was not finding things as amusing as her parents and Quinn. She didn't see why it was so funny that she absolutely, positively hated the name the blonde had decided to give to her chair.

"I don't think the name is appropriate." She scowled folding her arms. "And I don't think that my dislike of it is all that humorous either. My chair does not deserve the name of a seedy street corner prostitute who became semi-famous because she performed fellatio on Hugh Grant!"

As far as the pregnant girl was concerned, Rachel, saying fellatio, equals too freaking funny.

"Divine Brown is not acceptable." The Diva glared at Quinn. "Mrs. Snugglebottom, or Mrs. Cosy-ton-hugglebanks. Those are acceptable."

"Rachel, Sweetie? I think you're going to have to stop talking now. Quinn looks like she's turning blue." David patted his daughter on the arm.

"I was merely pointing out some of the more suitable names she could've come up with."

Rachel wasn't really that annoyed because seeing Quinn like this was very pleasant, and what was better was that she only seemed to be like this around her and her Dads. In school when the blonde was hanging out with Santana and Brittany she didn't seem any different to the way she'd always been. Snarky and grumpy. Not that the Diva spent a whole lot of time watching the other girl or anything. But something had changed, she wasn't sure what exactly. It could've been her shielding the girl from the slushy, but she feared it was probably the vicodin incident. Rachel really couldn't remember much of what had happened that afternoon, all she had to go on was what her Dad's had said, she vaguely remembered a few things. Quinn being nice to her, having a very itchy face and Brad the piano player was probably some higher power, but that was about the extent of it.

Whatever the reason, apparently this Quinn liked her and that's all she needed to know.

* * *

The four of them finished their meal, eventually, and went into the den to watch a movie. It was David's turn to pick this Friday, the rule at the Berry home was that everything was done with fairness. Everyone had their turn equally, whether it was chores or the choice of entertainment.

His daughter and husband didn't like it when it was his turn to pick the film. They always picked musicals and Rom Com's, but David let his slightly sadistic side come out to play when it came to movie night and would always pick things like 'Texas Chainsaw Massacre' or even worse, 'Hostel'. Rachel  _hated_  'Hostel' not only was it disgustingly gruesome and gave her nightmares about eyes hanging out of their sockets for weeks, she never understood why on earth the audience would give a crap about the men in the film. They were a bunch of chauvinist idiots who got themselves tortured and killed because they thought with their appendages and not with their brains.

"I decided on a musical tonight." He smirked when Rachel and Lucas looked relieved. The Diva shifted herself in the chair she was sharing with Quinn to get comfortable. The blonde frowned at the girl wriggling beside her. She didn't want to watch a musical; she changed her mind when the credits came up though.

"Dad. What is this?" The brunette waved her hand at the TV.

"What does it look like? It's a musical."

"'Cannibal! The musical' doesn't count."

"Of course it does Sweetie; the protagonist expresses his feelings through song. That's how this genre works."

"I thought I got rid of this." Lucas mumbled.

"Oh you did, but there's this thing called Amazon so I bought myself a new copy."

Rachel sulked for the first half of the movie, Quinn got bored. The title of the film made it sound like it would at least be so bad it was funny, this was not the case.

Trying to find something to do that wasn't watch the film, the blonde put her arm down the side of the armchair and found a lever. Out of a general curiosity, she pulled it. The Diva squealed as the back of the chair went down and her legs went up.

"Oh my God. It reclines!" Quinn shouted with excitement. "I'm moving in, and I shall live here forever more."

"Quinn! Return us to our former position at once."

"No!" The blonde turned her head and moved dark hair out of the way to whisper into the other girl's ear. "Think of it this way Rachel, if we're looking at the ceiling, we're not watching the lame-ass movie."

The Diva seemed to ponder this, then turned her head knocking her nose against the other girls and pulled back at the surprise of the contact. She gave a tiny cough. "That is true." Rachel kept her voice low. "But our ceiling isn't very entertaining. So what else can we do to occupy our time?" She asked smiling.

The pregnant girl shrugged and looked back up. Right now all she could think about was the image of an actual Little Devil who had escaped the metaphorical horny box in her head, and was running around happy to be free. How dare he react to Rachel's innocent question like that. Unacceptable.

"Girls?"

"Yeah?" They didn't bother moving from their reclined position to look at David.

He chuckled. "Will either one of you be acting like you're almost adults anytime tonight?"

"Probably not." Quinn answered without any argument from Rachel.

"Okay then." He didn't mind whether or not the girls watched the movie. His daughter was interacting with someone on a social level, and if that interaction meant that they both acted like five year olds, then so be it. The film was really only to punish his husband for getting rid of his original copy and think that he wouldn't get found out.

"Rock, paper, scissors?" Rachel whispered.

The blonde turned her head towards the Diva slightly and whispered back. "What will the winner get?" It came out more suggestively than she'd intended, and she blamed it on the still loose sexual demon running about in her head. Which at some point during the last minute, she'd named Charlie.

"The chance to gloat because of superior skills?" Thankfully, Rachel hadn't picked up on the tone. That or she was choosing to ignore it.

"That sounds boring. How about we make it interesting?"

"Hmm." There were several moments of silence, then, "Okay. If you win I'll make you lunch for school all of next week."

She liked the way the brunette thought. "And if you win?"

"That will be disclosed at a later date."

"Not a chance. Pick something now or I pick for you."

"Oh, alright. You have to perform  _'I Do Not Hook Up'_  in Glee."

"What? No."

"What's the matter Quinn? Don't you think you can rock Kelly Clarkson?"

Damn Rachel for knowing her weakness of proving people wrong. "Fine." She was almost tempted to change her mind about what she would get if she won and make Rachel do some embarrassing song in front of the whole school, but knowing the Diva, she'd probably like the song and make it sound amazing. But food that didn't make her want to vomit would win in almost every situation.

In the end, Quinn needn't have worried.

Rachel didn't take losing very well; she demanded several rematches and got increasingly more annoyed with every loss, she finally conceded after the nineteenth game. The result was Quinn: Seventeen, Rachel: Two.

The Berry men had actually spent more time watching them play than they did the film. It was all very entertaining, they'd never seen their daughter act like this with anyone, and when she actually admitted defeat they applauded.

At nine o'clock Lucas insisted that Quinn let Mrs. Puckerman know that she was staying the night because it was too late for her to drive home. It wasn't, but she wasn't going to argue with the man. His concern for her welfare was very sweet.

She and Rachel stayed up after the two men had gone to bed and watched something that wasn't from David's weirdly large collection of Exploitation films, compromising on  _'Matilda'_ because who doesn't love Roald Dahl?

"I've had a really nice time tonight Rachel." She felt the girl shift in the seat they were still sharing but she didn't take her eyes off the screen.

"I'm glad." The Diva leaned against the back of the upright chair and rested her head on her hand. "Maybe next time I should challenge you to a thumb wrestling match, I have deceptively strong digits."

Quinn snorted. "Is it your goal in life to make me laugh now or something?"

"It might be. Would that be so bad?"

"No." She turned to face Rachel. "It really wouldn't." She smiled, then her attention was back to the TV and they watched the rest of the film in silence.

 


	4. Four

When Quinn woke up in the Berry Guest room she stretched herself out like a cat. She missed being able to sprawl across a bed. She looked at her phone and saw that she'd slept undisturbed for a considerable amount of time, and that she had a message from Santana.

_You owe me Juno. I know spent the night at Stubbles. Puck's Mom called to check on you. You're lucky my sister likes you enough to cover for your fat ass._

Crap.

She picked up the towels; toothbrush and spare clothes David left for her last night and went into the bathroom, looking through all the products and picking out the most suitable ones. She turned the water on putting her hand under the stream to wait for the right temperature.

She liked shower time, she did her best thinking there, all her problems seemed to get worked out easier and plans fell into place. Right now her thoughts were of Rachel, and how the world had apparently shifted on its axis and had completely messed with her reality in the last few days. Someone who made her laugh didn't come along very often, and Rachel being one of these special few was surprising. And watching how the little Diva behaved in her natural habitat, as it were, was also another glimpse into a life she realised she knew nothing about. Rachel was more than the two dimensional cartoon character that she'd created in her head that only cared about being famous.

As far as Quinn was concerned the Diva was a big ball of contradictions. She's self absorbed but she's also considerate, she's a force to be reckoned with but vulnerable too, she can be abrasive and sweet. All of those negative attributes that seem to be the primary make up of her personality are actually complimented by all the positive ones that people rarely get a chance to see.

She regretted not seeing the girl for what she was because of stupid high school politics, and she knew that if she hadn't have become pregnant then she never would have found out.

She also liked shower time because the acoustics were fucking amazing.

Once she was done in the bathroom she put on the spare t-shirt and sweats, which were baggy and very comfortable. She figured that they belonged to Lucas because David was a giant and Rachel was small enough to put in a jar. She looked down at the 'Don't Hassle the Hoff' shirt and wondered if she could get away with borrowing it indefinitely.

She walked into the kitchen to find the other girl sitting at the table with dozens of little chocolate balls in front of her and a bowl of chocolate flakes. "Morning." She said as the Diva dropped a ball into the bowl.

"Oh you're up."

Quinn frowned. "Was that a dig at the amount of sleep I had?"

"No." Rachel looked confused. "It was just one of those redundant statements that people make. You know how if someone comes in from outside soaking wet and someone asks if it's raining. It was like that."

"Like that  _'Here's your sign_ ' guy."

The brunette looked at the wall for a moment. "I don't know what that means." She smiled and got up from the table. "Are you hungry? I'll make you some breakfast."

"I'm always hungry, and there's no need."

"There most certainly is a need. Baby needs nutrition and I'm here to supply that." Rachel went over to the fridge and stuck her head inside.

The pregnant girl couldn't deny it any longer; Rachel Berry was cute as button.

"Would you like pancakes?" The question was muffled from the appliance.

"If that's easy for you, I don't want to put you out."

Rachel emerged from the fridge holding a carton of eggs and a half smile across her face. "You aren't, I assure you. What would you like to drink?"

"Thanks. I'm not sure what I'd like to drink; I get odd cravings when I've woken up."

"Have a look and help yourself." The Diva got out the ingredients and started work on breakfast. "I always make Dad pancakes." She said as she grabbed a mixing bowl. "He can make a ten course meal, but claims he can't make them, I'm dubious myself but he always makes happy noises when he eats them so I don't mind."

Quinn listened as she got herself a glass from the cupboard and put it on the island opposite the girl speaking. That was another thing that had changed with reality being distorted; she was oddly comforted by Rachel's chatter. She opened up the diet coke she found and poured it in half way, then filled the rest with orange juice. The Diva glanced at the beverage and quirked an eyebrow at her questioningly.

"Santana's sister Izzy calls it 'The Thames' apparently because it's so murky." She shrugged.

"Dad calls it 'Diarrhoea' I think I prefer your version."

"Me too." Quinn took a gulp of her drink and smacked her lips together. "Mmm acidy. I think I can feel my stomach lining dissolve as we speak."

"Sounds pleasant." The brunette smiled.

"It's the best." She smiled back. It shouldn't be this simple should it? Did Rachel just forget everything that she'd done to her over the years? Or was she just willing to put the past cruelties behind her? This was something that had been bothering Quinn over the last few days. She would ask, but not now. She had to see if this new friendship actually had some sturdy foundation first.

She ate her breakfast at the table watching Rachel putting the balls of chocolate into the flakes and shaking the bowl. "Whatcha doing?"

"I'm covering the chocolate truffles. Would you like to try one?"

She gave the Diva a wide grin. "Yes. I would've thought you'd worked out by now that my life revolves around eating."

"I didn't want to assume you'd have one." She chuckled handing a sweet over to the expanding blonde.

Quinn bit it in half and froze. "What's in this?"

Rachel looked anxious. "Chocolate, cream, vanilla essence and a thimble of brandy. There isn't enough alcohol in there to affect the baby."

"No." Quinn shook her head.

"No?" The Diva asked then bit her lip.

"No. That can't be all that's in there. You are clearly some sort of sorceress who makes magical desserts that tastes like heaven."

The brunette laughed. "You had me worried Quinn, I thought something was wrong."

"You're like a Domestic Goddess. Not only am I moving into your chair, I'm making you my wife." That was not appropriate; she really should learn to control her facetious comments.

Rachel rolled her eyes and carried on with her truffles. "Not if that's the way you're proposing you're not."

"I'd get down on one knee, but there's a good chance I wouldn't be able to get up again." She should also learn to not grab a joke and run with it past the point of funny too. This was a lesson that wasn't going to be learned anytime soon though. "What if I sat on a normal chair and you sat on a high stool so it sort of appeared that I was kneeling down. Would that work for you?"

"Here, have another truffle."

"Thank you I shall." Quinn picked up one of the pancakes, putting the truffle in the middle and rolled it up. It really was the food of the Gods. "Om nom, nom." She said with a full mouth and grinned at the other girl, rubbing her stomach.

When her phoned beeped she growled, and shoved the rest of her food in her mouth. She opened up the message.

_Remember you're meeting us at the mall in hour Tubbers. Don't be late_.

She'd forgotten about that. "I need to get going. I have to go to the mall." She got up and as an afterthought asked, "Would you like to come? It'll just be me, Santana and Brittany."

"I can't I'm sorry, I need to finish these off before Dad leaves. I don't think Santana would appreciate me being there either. Thank you anyway."

"Okay." She handed the Diva her phone, "Put your number in there." When it was handed back she called it and heard the music come from near the sink. "If you get ahead of schedule and fancy joining us, let me know, we'll be there til around five." She smiled at the other girl before running up the stairs to collect her stuff then run back down.

"Rachel?" She asked when she returned to the kitchen.

"Yes?" The brunette answered looking up.

"Thank you for, you know, everything."

"You're welcome." The brunette beamed.

* * *

She'd made it to the mall with ten minutes to spare after going back to the Puckerman's to get changed and make small talk with Ruth and Maya. She was waiting for the two girls in their usual place near the pretzel cart and was playing with her phone.

"You look happy." Brittany's voice penetrated her concentration.

"Do I?" She asked tearing her eyes away from her scrabble game.

The taller blonde nodded. "Yeah. You're all smiley."

"It's really disturbing." Santana grumbled.

"Why is Quinn being happy disturbing?"

"It isn't that her happiness is disturbing B, it's the reason  _why_  she's so happy that's disturbing."

"Why? What's the reason?"

"Okay, enough talking about me like I'm not here, are we going shopping or what?"

"Are you buying someone a gift?" The Latina smirked. "I got a suggestion. How about, 'Be Mine' in gold stars."

"I fucking hate you."

"Rachel likes gold stars." Brittany said. "If you need any help with that I'd ask her, she probably an expert on them. Who you buying gold stars for anyway?"

"No one, Santana thinks she's being funny."

"No I don't. I'm just trying to help you get the right present. How about a sweater with an animal on it?"

"Rachel likes those too."

"Can we go now?" The pregnant girl huffed.

The three girls had a routine, it was the same one they'd had since they were thirteen. Clothes, accessories, food and drink, more clothes, miscellaneous, then end the day with sitting in Starbucks using all the patrons inside to play real life Guess Who. Eight times out of ten Brittany won.

First stop was the small Indie store that the Latina could spend all day in. It was a little known fact that Santana Lopez was a bit of a rock chick, and if she didn't have to keep up appearances she would spend all her time in ripped jeans, skinny T's and Doc Marten's. Quinn and Brittany would often just wait outside for her.

The next store was one more to both the blonde's tastes, all dresses and skirts of varying pastel colours. Santana usually spent this time putting all the clothes on the wrong size hangers and making faces at the equally bored children being dragged around by frustrated parents.

The accessories store had a pretty wide selection; it managed to keep all three of them interested.

"Hey Q?" Santana sidled up to the blonde who was looking at some bracelets.

"What?"

"Look." The brunette shoved a gold star pendant in front of her. "You could get her this. It says,  _ **'I'm sorry I've been such a bitch to you, be my friend and please stop wearing knee high socks'**_  admittedly it's a little erratic in its message, but she'd probably think it was pretty."

"I could kill you and claim temporary insanity you know."

"True dat."

When it was time for snacks they always went for the quietest eatery, today was the bistro run by the Italian guy with Tourette syndrome, for the most part nobody knew what he was shouting, they did see him get smacked by one of the female customers once and that was damn funny. Quinn pulled out her phone and started typing out a message, then deleted it and wrote out another one, read it, reread it then erased that one too.

"Who you sexting?" Santana asked sweetly.

"No one." She answered through gritted teeth and shut her phone.

"If you're having trouble coming up with something to say, I could write out a message for you."

"I was sending a message to Ruth."

"Yeah right. Telling her how much fun you had at mine last night? You still owe me."

"Don't I technically owe your sister?"

"You used my name, so that means you owe me."

"Whatever. Where are we going next?"

"Izzy wants me to get her a fedora." Santana said balancing a spoon on her nose.

"Of course she does. B, you ready?"

"Yeah." The taller blonde nodded as she finished building her breadstick tepee.

They went to the men's department to get the hat and the Latina got herself a studded belt while she was there. Then they went back to their usual stores, one of which Quinn was banned from because she'd lost her temper with one of the clerks who told her that she couldn't try on a dress she liked because she was pregnant and might stretch out the fabric, so the blonde shoved the item of clothing over the bitch's head and threw a shoe at her.

She didn't think it was an overreaction; she thought the judgmental cow deserved it.

Quinn didn't have a whole lot of money to spend on frivolous items, which was basically anything that wasn't related to the baby. So when Santana informed her they were "Going to the weird store with all the random shit in." she was happy. Everything was so cheap in there.

While Brittany was watching the owl clock with the moving eyes the Latina picked that moment to ask her some questions.

"So seriously, what is going on with you and RuPaul?"

"Don't call her that."

"You came up with it!" The brunette raised her voice and waved her arms. "And stop avoiding."

"Nothing is going on, I told you before she's nice and I like her."

"See this is where I start to think  _that thing_ ," Santana poked her bump, "is affecting  _this_." And she flicked her forehead.

"I don't have to justify my actions to you." Quinn said grabbing hold of the Latina's hand, throwing away from her.

"I'm not asking you too. I just don't see any difference in her."

"It isn't about seeing a difference in her; it's about seeing her differently. And how do you even know that's where I was last night?"

"I drove by her house and saw your car."

"Why were you driving past her house?"

"Because I knew if I called you'd deny you were there, and I wanted proof. Next time you lie and drag my name into it, at least have the decency to tell me."

"Sorry."

Santana frowned and regarded her for several seconds. "This really isn't some elaborate prank right? You do actually like her?"

The pregnant girl covered her face with her hands. "Yeah."

"Okay. For the record, I think it's odd, but I'm guessing you don't care."

Quinn shook her head. The brunette gave her a small nod and walked away to find the other blonde, leaving her to peruse the shelf she was standing in front of. There was a small music box that was in her price range, she wanted to get it for Rachel, but would it be crossing a line? Do you get a probably new friend a gift after only a few days? It could be part of what would more than likely be a very long apology for treating her so badly for so long. She wiggled her jaw and picked up the box, strode towards the cashier and placed it on the counter, giving the woman a smile.

Brittany came and stood next to her and opened her hand out. "I'm getting this ball."

Quinn looked at the small pink rubber ball, then up to the taller girl. "Is that a spare or the only one we have?"

"Spare."

"Thank God. Maybe one day we'll find all the ones we lost."

"There must be hundreds."

The Latina joined them, putting her  _Admiral Cain_  action figure next to the cash register. Quinn looked over to her friend. "Santana, there's something on your face." She sucked in her top lip to stop herself laughing as the brunette ran both hands over her nose and cheeks. "Wait, sorry. My mistake, it was just your nerd showing."

"Oh you are so funny, see how I guffaw."

"I need to pick something up for my Mom before we go to Starbucks." Brittany said after paying for her item and moving out of the way for Santana.

"Last time you said that we ended up having to carry a coffee table around with us for two hours."

"Don't worry; it's not a coffee table."

"Good."

The taller blonde led the way and the other two girls didn't pay much attention as they followed. When they walked through the door, they were welcomed by a vaguely familiar looking man.

"Hello, welcome to Sheets-N-Things, my name is Howard Bamboo may I take your order."

The three girls looked baffled.

"Howard! That isn't how you do it. I gave you the official Greeter's handbook for you to read."

"I'm dyslexic."

Quinn recognised that voice. "Oh shit." She said before sprinting out the door. Last person she wanted to deal with right now was Crazy Terri Schuester.

Santana followed her out. "What's up with you?"

"Nothing. I'm going to get us a table, I'll meet you there."

"Whatever."

She ordered the drinks and took a seat at an empty table. She was a little disappointed that Rachel didn't come, but she didn't think she could take any of Santana's comments, and she knew there would be many.

She was glaring at a group of women on another table who were blatantly talking about her when her two friends came and sat down. The Latina looked at her and frowned, then looked over to the other table. She picked up a sachet of sugar and hurled it at them. "It's rude to fucking stare." She growled at the women and turned back around. "You'd think they'd never seen a pregnant girl before. Ingrates." Nobody messes with Santana Lopez's friends, except Santana Lopez.

"Okay S, you get to start the game this week."

Santana looked around the room and nodded. "Right, I've picked one."

"Is it a man?" Brittany asked.

"Yeah."

"Is it that guy with the red shirt?"

"How do you do that?" The Latina asked looking confused.

The taller blonde shrugged. "My turn to choose. Quinn?"

"Is it a man?"

"Yes."

"Does he have glasses on?"

"No." Great, that narrowed it down to about fifteen people.

"Is it that guy with the red shirt?"

"Quinn. Why would I pick the one Santana picked?"

"I was just hoping you would, I suck at this game. Does he have a hat on?"

"No."

The pregnant girl groaned. Even when she had two people left she still managed to pick the wrong one.

* * *

She got back to Puck's around six and he was actually there, but clearly about to leave.

"Hey baby mama, I haven't seen you in days."

"Been busy."

"Good times. I'm going over Matt's to play COD, see you later."

"Yeah, have fun." She waved at the mother and daughter as she bypassed the living room to head down to the basement. The new maternity dress she'd bought joined the others in her case and the little music box she put under the bed. She pulled out her phone again opening a new message and stared at the blank screen.

This was stupid. Sending a text to someone wasn't this hard.

She exited the menu and went straight to Rachel's number and pressed send. It was answered after the third ring.

_"I was just thinking about you."_  Was the first thing Rachel said.

"Were you? That's weird, we must be connected somehow."

_"It really isn't that strange, we have spent quite a lot of time together recently, so it's inevitable that many of my thoughts revolve around you. Did you have a nice time with Santana and Brittany?"_

Quinn smiled. "I did." A loud rumble filled the room preventing her from carrying on with her sentence. When it was over, the Diva asked,  
 _  
 _"What was that?"__

"The furnace."

_"Where are you?"_

"Basement."

_"Why are you in the basement?"_

"It's where my bed is."

_"Quinn. That is not a suitable place for a pregnant girl to be sleeping. Why hasn't Noah offered you his room?"_

"Even if you threw out everything from in there it would still smell like feet, sweat and general boy-ness. I was in the basement at Finn's too; I'm used to being the deformed freak that needs to be hidden from the world."

_"You are not a deformed freak. And I don't like that you're made to sleep there. I think you should come over tonight. Dad is out schmoozing some Big Wigs for work and Daddy has his Air Guitar group, they're practicing for the national competition. You would be keeping me company."_

"Haven't you had enough of me yet?"

_"No. Are you coming over?"_

"Yeah." She moved the phone from her mouth to take a deep breath. "I'll be about thirty minutes?"

_"Excellent. I'll see you soon."_

After Rachel hung up she kept the phone to her ear for a few seconds, then realised what she was doing and threw it on the bed. She got up, put on her IPod dock and pressed play. 'What You Waiting For' came out of the speaker quietly, she liked the song but couldn't help but think that Gwen Stefani was nuttier than squirl shit. As she packed an overnight bag she danced to the music and used her hairbrush as a microphone.

She retrieved the music box from under the bed and realized she didn't even know what music it played; she opened it up and heard a tinny version of 'Bach's Cello Suite No. 1' and smiled at a memory of watching one of her sister's cello recitals when she was a kid. She sat in the front row and watched Cassie lose herself in her instrument, when it was over the first person her sister looked for was Quinn.

She closed the box and put it in the backpack, squashing it in between her clothes so it wouldn't get damaged. She turned off her dock and picked up her bag throwing it over her shoulder then made her way upstairs. Ruth and Maya were still watching TV when she went into the room.

"I'll be staying out again tonight."

"Will you be at Santana's?"

"No." She gave the woman a small smile. "I'll be at Rachel Berry's."

"She's the tiny girl who talks a lot isn't she?"

"That's the one."

"She's nice. Have fun."

"I will."

* * *

When Rachel answered the door she looked dishevelled and flushed. Quinn smirked at the girl's appearance.

"What you been doing Berry?" She asked walking over the threshold.

"I was changing the duvet cover and got stuck inside it."

The blonde laughed. "You are too cute, you know that?"

"It's because of my small staure." The brunette smiled.

"Yeah." She nodded. "So what the plan? You asked me over, how will you be entertaining me?"

"I hadn't realized that you'd assigned me the role of court jester for this evening. Had I known this, I wouldn't have invited you."

"Liar."

"Yes, well." The Diva shrugged. "Would a movie be an acceptable activity your majesty?"

"You know, I think it will."

* * *

Quinn had forgone the movie option when she found the 'Gilmore Girls' in the large trunk filled exclusively with TV shows. It was one of those programs she loved but was ashamed to admit out loud like she liked. Rachel had made her a sandwich and they both sat on Divine Snugglebottom ready to be amused by people talking too fast. She almost choked on her food when the other girl mimed the piano for the theme tune, in truth she'd done it herself in the past, but it was funnier when the Diva did it.

Half way through the second episode she picked up her bag. "I got you something." She said, and realized that she hadn't wrapped it, so she tore out a page from her notebook and covered the box messily while hiding it from the other girl. "There."

Rachel took it with a smirk. "Thanks, I can see you've put a considerable amount of effort into wrapping this; I don't think I can bring myself to spoil its beauty."

"If you're going to be sarcastic about it I'll take it back." Quinn went to grab it off the girl but Rachel was quick and turned on her side sticking her arm out, the blonde lunged over to grab it but couldn't reach.

"No! Quinn I'm sorry, I promise I won't be sarcastic again."

"You'd better not be." She leaned into the other girl's ear. "I don't just get anyone presents you know." It was at this point she noticed that she was essentially spooning Rachel and she fumbled her way back to sit down giving the Diva a sideways glance. Charlie was out of his box, but he was on a very short leash.

Rachel relaxed back into the chair and looked over before removing the paper. She took out the box and lifted it up to study it then opened the lid and smiled an unusual smile as the music played.

Quinn watched nervously as the brunette gazed at the box, and after what felt like an age she finally asked, "Do you like it?"

"I do" Rachel closed the box and squeezed her hand. "Very much."

The pregnant girl smiled. "I thought you might think it was weird."

"Why would I think it's weird?"

"I don't know." She lied.

"Mmm hmm. It was a very sweet gesture, thank you."

"When I saw it I thought of you."

"Because I'm small, oblong and only have the one tune in me?" Rachel giggled.

"Way to ruin a perfectly nice moment." She said nudging the brunette and shaking her head. She closed her eyes and leaned into the other girl.

The earth had moved and reality had changed. There was only one thing to do. Accept it and embrace the new world with open arms.

 


	5. Five

Rachel Berry likes order. She likes planning and lists and things to be alphabetized, and putting all the necessary information of her life into ring binders with colour coded dividers. She'd been diagnosed with mild OCD a year ago and it worked out just fine for her. An organized life is an organized mind. Or something along those lines. She liked the structure she had to her day and had never strayed from it. Until now. It wasn't like she was going completely off the rails, she was just distracted.

The whole thing with Quinn had thrown her off balance. During the Friday night dinner their entire interaction felt natural and fluid, like they'd been doing this for years and not for a few hours. It wasn't until they'd said goodnight and she'd gone to bed did she start thinking about it.

The way she thought about it was this: There were different versions of Quinn Fabray. There was the head cheerleader Quinn who was very often angry at her for some reason, and had a tendency to slam her locker door shut to get her attention. The pregnant ex-cheerleader Quinn who just kind of ignored her and drew unpleasant caricatures of her. And now there was a third Quinn, who was still pregnant, obviously, but who had softened towards her considerably and was actually very dorky. Rachel thought it was the most adorable thing.

It was still confusing though. In the entire time she'd known her the blonde had always seemed pissed off at everything, even when they were kids. Her default facial expression is one of bored annoyance. So why was this Quinn mark III so much different than the other two? She thought she could just accept the dramatic change and not think too hard about it, but that just isn't in her nature.

When she'd woken up two hours late Saturday morning because of all the thoughts buzzing around in her head until three A.M, she had to half her elliptical routine, skip the songs she usually sung in the shower, which was actually beneficial to her parents' water bill because it has been proven that people take longer showering when they sing. She also had to rush her breakfast which she didn't like to do because it made her feel bloated, and then start work on the truffles.

While she waited for Quinn to wake up, she thought about all the things she wanted to ask her, but quite a lot of them sounded ridiculous, particularly the clichéd one of 'Who the hell are you? And what have you done with the real Quinn Fabray?' Those kinds of questions can get taken the wrong way. Besides, the blonde being possessed or invaded by some unknown entity was highly unlikely. If it were to be anything, it would be the work of scientists and cloning. Or possibly robotics.

All her questions abandoned however when the well rested looking pregnant girl had come downstairs, because Quinn was probably hungry. And a well fed baby is a healthy baby and a healthy baby is a happy one. When baby is happy so is Mom.

During breakfast Quinn was charming and funny just like she had been the night before, and she was happy to be the recipient of the attention, even the weird proposal. But she still wanted to know why the blonde was this way with her. Her questions remained unasked when Quinn told her she had to go and she was a little bummed about that, she'd been looking forward to spending more time with her. But meeting the two Cheerio's had clearly been pre-arranged and when she had to decline the invitation to join them at the mall, she had never felt such an irrational resentment towards chocolate balls in her life.

She didn't finish up until four and by then it was too late to join the three girls who were probably having a lot more fun than she was. And when her Dad's left she did what any normal teenager would do. She moped.

When her phone rang and she saw who it was she became so excited she forgot to answer it for a few seconds. She regained her composure and told herself to  _Be Cool_. So what was the first thing she said?  _'I was just thinking about you'_  That wasn't cool, that was a little creepy. Quinn didn't seem to mind though. She tried so hard to be casual, but then she went into detail about why she had been thinking about her and it took all her willpower to stop herself from grabbing a cushion and smothering her face with it. Her invitation for the other girl to stay the night had been the direct result of finding out Quinn had to sleep in the basement. What kind of person lets a pregnant girl sleep in the basement?

The half an hour she had from the time she hung up to the time Quinn got there was rushed. She had to clear up the mess she'd left in the kitchen and put clean bedding on the guest bed, which turned out to be quite a perilous task. In hindsight she realized she probably shouldn't have changed the duvet cover while standing on the mattress because she lost her footing, getting caught up in the sheet and fell onto the floor, getting tangled up and completely lost inside, it took her several minutes to find her way out. Five seconds after she'd managed to escape the doorbell went. If she was inclined to use swear words, the phrase 'Fuck My Life' might've been uttered. Instead all she did was sigh.

When Quinn said she was cute she told herself again, to  _Be Cool_ , like the Fonz, or, someone more relatable to the 21st century, and she was pretty sure she managed to pull it off. Until she opened the present the blonde had got her.

Before she'd unwrapped it she thought it might be a key ring or a small bulky pen, she never expected it to be what it turned out to be. Her heart pounded hard and fast, this was the sweetest thing she'd ever received. Not only was Quinn mark III dorky, funny and charming, she was kind and thoughtful too. Feeling the lump in her throat, she made a stupid joke to stop herself from crying in front of the pregnant girl, it would've been embarrassing.

Quinn Fabray was rapidly becoming the Chaos to her Order. It was petrified her and excited her at the same time, the only other time she felt like that was on the rides at the fair. So did that make Quinn a human rollercoaster?

* * *

When her alarm went off at six she jumped out of bed, put on her shorts and tank top and did her work out routine, then she took her shower and ate her breakfast. All these things were normal for a Monday morning. What she should be doing now was working on her MySpace video. What she was actually doing was sitting on her bed, opening up the music box and listening to the pretty music playing from inside. When the music stopped she shut the lid then opened it again. This wasn't part of the normal Monday schedule. It wasn't very productive either.

Eventually she had to force herself to come out of her Bach induced trance, because there were lunches to be made for her and Quinn. A deal was a deal after all, she'd been annihilated at Rock, Paper, Scissors and her price was to feed the girl, which actually she would be happy to do anyway, but the blonde didn't need to know that. She'd got a list of her favourite foods and combination of foods and she tried not to grimace at what the blonde actually chose to eat when the list had been handed over. Today she was going to make the one on the top of the list. Grated cheese and chocolate spread sandwiches; it looked as disgusting as it sounded.

Once lunch had been made, she left for school because she wanted to get to there early today, Jesse was back from some family thing he had and she wanted to use the choir room to practice, she hadn't done anywhere near enough over the weekend. He always seemed to know if she'd missed any vocal training sessions; it was like he was a human tuning fork. She arrived an hour before school was to start and she thought that would be an ample amount of time.

As she walked through the corridor she noticed a small pink blur ricocheting off the walls and was heading in her direction, it bounced off the door to the janitor's closet and hit her in the head. "Ow." She said looking around the empty hall in confusion. Quinn appeared in her eye line with a shove and the blonde looked to her side and waved her arms about, whispering angrily, she couldn't hear what was being said but she recognized the Latina's voice in reply. As the pregnant girl walked towards her annoyed face dropped and was replaced with an embarrassed smile.

"Hey."

"Hey back." Rachel managed to not wave this time.

"Did you see where our ball went?"

"Strangely enough no. Once it landed on my head I lost my focus on it." Her hand moved to where she'd been hit and rubbed over the tingling that was still there for a few moments before dropping her arm down to her side.

Quinn stepped towards her quickly, putting her own hand over the spot she'd just soothed. "Sorry." She said stroking the bump that was developing. "There isn't usually anyone around here this time of the morning; we get the place to ourselves."

"Can I ask what you were doing?" The concern the other girl was showing was another thing to add to the list of qualities she liked about this Quinn.

"Playing catch." The pregnant girl grinned as she took her hand away.

The Diva quirked an eyebrow in amusement. "Really?"

"Yes." The pregnant girl nodded once. "Not just any old game of catch though, we can only use those little bouncy balls and lacrosse sticks to catch them."

"And what is this game called?"

"We call it Sbuck. But that's only because it's easier than saying S, B and Q."

"Ah, I see. It's a game the three of you made up, you should think about asking Principle Figgins about adding it to the extra curricular activities option."

"You know I can tell by your tone that you aren't taking this seriously."

"I am very serious." She smirked. "I'd even consider being a Sbuck cheerleader, ready to spell out 'Go Quinn' with my arms." She looked off to the side for a second as she tried to work out how to spell the other girls name using her extremities. When she turned her attention back to the blonde she noticed that she had an odd look of wide eyed surprise and amusement.

"So you'd be prepared to be a cheerleader for me huh?"

"When it becomes an official sport, gladly."

"Either you two get a room or go look for our damn ball." Santana shouted from around the corner.

Quinn shook her head. "You probably came into school early for a reason, so I won't ask you if you'd like to help me look."

"No, I didn't need to do anything specific; I was just impatient this morning. I'm happy to help."

"Thanks." The blonde smiled. "How's your head?"

"Not that bad, it's just a bump." Rachel answered as they started walking from the direction she'd just come from. They reached the point where the corridor went off into separate directions and she glanced to her left then her right. "I think it would be best if we split up."

"Does it need to be so final? Can't we just say we're on a break?"

Rachel looked up at the other girl and grinned. "You are such a dork."

"Yeah, but you can't tell anyone it's a secret."

"Okay, I promise I shall take it to the grave. Now which way would you like to go?"

"I'll go right. We should synchronize our watches and meet back here in ten minutes." Quinn said looking at her wrist.

"You don't appear to be wearing a watch."

"It's an invisible spy watch. If you find it before the ten minutes are up just shout."

"Got it." Rachel laughed and turned left. Helping find Quinn's ball was definitely more constructive than practicing her scales.

She hadn't even taken ten steps before she heard the blonde shout "Found it!" and then heard Santana shout "Thank fuck!" She turned on her heel and walked back towards the girl holding the ball in between her index finger and thumb victoriously.

"That was easier than expected. Can I watch you play?"

"If you'd like." Quinn said bumping her shoulder.

They made their way back to the other two girls who were sitting on the floor balancing lacrosse sticks on their heads. Santana stood up quickly and nodded at Rachel.

"Berry." That was probably the nicest the Latina had ever been to her. "Jesus Preggo, you took your sweet time."

"You could've looked for it yourself."

"I could've. But I didn't. Can we get back to the game now? We've got to see Coach in like fifteen minutes."

"Yeah, Rachel will be coming in to watch us."

Santana huffed. "Fine, don't get in the way Berry."

"You won't even know I'm there. I'll be like a ninja, or carbon monoxide." Rachel smiled brightly when she heard Quinn laugh, and she followed them into the empty gym.

She watched the game, and other than it being very fast paced she had absolutely no idea what was going on. Sometimes Quinn would get the ball and get all excited and other times when she caught it she looked like it was the worst thing in the world. Just as the Diva thought she'd figured out some tactic of play something would happen to make her re-think that. When everything stopped abruptly she could only assume the game was done, and Quinn came and joined her on the bleachers as the two other girls left.

"Did you enjoy the game?" The blonde asked as she sat down next to her.

"Um. Yes."

"You don't sound very certain."

"I don't really know what just happened, but it looked like a lot of fun." She went into her backpack and pulled out a large paper bag and handed it to the other girl. "I brought you your lunch and some snacks. Is there a rule book I could read so that I might be able to get a better understanding of it?"

"They haven't been written down; it would probably take a week to do it." Quinn answered taking the bag, her mouth fell when she opened it. "This is way too much Rachel, I can't accept this."

"Of course you can, the health of your baby is very important." She placed a hand on the swollen belly then pulled away quickly. "I'll bring in a lunch everyday for you if it means I know that both of you girls are fed properly." After she said it, it occurred to her that it sounded too assertive. She was relieved when the other girl didn't have a negative reaction.

"But I'll feel bad about it, food isn't free you know."

"I suppose I could think of someway you could repay me." She started thinking of all the things a pregnant girl could realistically do, some of her chores maybe? But her Dad's wouldn't like that and neither would she. When she looked, she saw that the blonde had that odd surprised-amused look again. "Are you okay?"

"I'm hunky dory. Can I eat some of this now?"

"You can have it whenever you like."

"Would you like to meet for lunch in the auditorium?" Quinn asked pulling out a plum and biting into it like she hadn't eaten in a week.

"I'd like that." Rachel smiled watching the girl wipe the juice from her chin.

* * *

"I can do this." Rachel said rolling back her eyes so that only the whites could be seen. She heard Quinn say "Ew" then she closed her eyelids before focusing back on the girl, who was pulling a face that looked a bit like Beaker from the Muppets. They were sitting on the stage eating their lunch and had ended up having a conversation about all the weird stuff they could do because Rachel had asked Quinn if she could play chess. They didn't know all that much about each other so questions were asked, but the Diva wasn't sure how it ended up on this subject.

"That was really gross, I always get freaked out with eyes though, my sister can do this thing where she kinda shakes them, she used to use that on me when I was a kid to shut me up. It always worked." The blonde stuck her hand in the bag full of goodies to pull out the next piece of fruit. "I can wiggle my ears."

"Okay. Show me." Rachel shifted her position, watching as Quinn pulled her hair out of the way and moved her ears back and forth. "If you could do that fast enough you might be able to fly."

"I don't appreciate the comparison to Dumbo." The blonde frowned.

"Sorry. Oh, I can also do this." She held out her hand and bent the tips of her fingers and then wiggled them independently from each other. The pregnant girl deadpanned immediately, blinking several times before speaking.

"I bet that could be useful."

"How?" Rachel asked with a confused frown.

"I don't know." The other girl shrugged. "But I don't think that anything is truly redundant."

"Perhaps it's evolutionary, and I'm actually a million years ahead of other humans."

"Or maybe you could find a use for it tomorrow."

"Also a possibility."

A beeping noise stopped the conversation and Rachel pulled out her Beadazzled phone and read the message from Jesse.

_Rachel, where are you? I've been waiting in the choir room for almost twenty minutes._

"Shoot."

"What's up?"

"I was supposed to meet Jesse, I completely forgot."

"Oh."

The Diva picked up on the blondes tone but didn't press it; she knew her boyfriend wasn't to everyone's taste. "I'm really sorry Quinn, I have to go, I arranged this yesterday." She said standing up.

"No it's fine Berry, it's my fault for hogging you all to myself." The blonde gave her a sad smile.

"I like being hogged by you, if that makes you feel any better."

"It does." The other girl brightened and stood up too, surprising her with a hug attack. When Quinn pulled away Rachel gave her an amused questioning look. "The baby made me do it." She responded.

The Diva put her hand on the other girls' stomach again, rubbing it gently and bent down. "Thank you Baby." She stood back up and gave Quinn a smile. "I'll see you later."

"Yeah."

She took her hand away and walked down the steps. Jesse was her boyfriend and she should want to be with him right now, but that didn't stop her from adding him to the list of things she resented that prevented her from being with Quinn.

When she got to the choir room, he was huffy, and as he told her the importance of proper time keeping she found herself paying more attention to how his hair became strangely animated when he was annoyed than to what he was actually saying.

"Rachel?"

"Yes."

"Were you listening to me? Why were you late?"

"I was talking to Quinn."

"Why were you talking to her?"

She was getting annoyed with his questions. "Why wouldn't I?"

"Fine." He snapped. "Shall we get on with what we came here to do?"

"Certainly." She crossed her arms and stuck her chin out.

* * *

When the last bell went she practically skipped to Glee. The two Cheerios were already there, Brittany waved at her and Santana didn't snarl. The Latina was being unusually friendly today. She headed to one of the chairs in the front row and sat rigidly. With every person that entered she snapped her head towards the door and became increasingly irritated with each member who wasn't the person she was waiting for. So when Quinn finally walked into the room and gave her a wink, she relaxed. She didn't mind that the blonde went to sit with her friends, it might just confuse people if it looked like she was choosing to sit next to her because her fellow Glee club members were easily distracted when it came to the goings on in this room. Regional's wasn't that far away and she didn't want gossip to be the dominant activity here.

Jesse and Finn walked in together and bookended her.

"Hey Rach." The tall boy said smiling at her.

"Hello Finn."

"Rachel?" She turned her attention to her boyfriend and he grabbed her hand. "I'm sorry for earlier." He whispered.

"You're forgiven." She gave him a tight smile.

"Rach?" She turned back to the other boy. "I read that thing on breath control that you gave me last night."

"That's good Finn; however I did give you the literature on that several weeks ago."

"I lost it."

"Rachel?"

"Yes?" She looked at Jesse. This was exasperating.

"Are we still going on our date tomorrow?"

When Mr. Schuester walked through the door and she glanced over to Brod, thanking him silently for bringing an end to this absurdity. Then she looked back to Quinn who was chuckling, the Diva rolled her eyes and shook her head, the blonde understood her frustration.

The teacher leaned against the piano and clapped to get their attention. "Last night I had a phone call telling me my Mom was in the hospital." He patted his hands down on the air to hush the murmur from the kids. "She was fine; she'd just slipped and fractured her ankle. But as I sat in the waiting room, I thought about how much worse it could've been and it made me think how truly thankful I am for her. So for this weeks' assignment I'd like you all to come up with a song that reflects what  _you're_  all thankful for."

The rest of session went by as usual, with warming up and an impromptu rendition of 'Hotstepper' Started by Matt, Artie and Puck. And Mike, Tina and Brittany completely rocked the dance moves, Rachel gravitated towards Quinn when everyone else joined in.

When it had come to an end, both of the cheerleaders and the pregnant girl were left in the room as she and Jesse were about to leave. She heard Brittany call her name and she looked up at the boy. "I'll see you tomorrow." He nodded and strode out. She walked up to the blonde cheerleader and smiled at her. "Yes?"

The girl looked a little lost and shrugged. "Quinn told me to call you."

Santana looked at the taller blonde, then at the other two girls. "Did anyone else think Mr. Schue's reason for the assignment this week was weird? The guy has a serious habit of sharing too much information with us. And who sits in a hospital waiting room and thinks about what the Glee homework will be?"

"Maybe he was just trying to take his mind off his Mom being in the hospital, he's a very sensitive soul." Rachel said.

"Berry, I think you're confusing empathy with been a complete Tool." Santana shook her head. "Anyway, we're done being your accomplices in this crime of social suicide Juno. We have much better things to do." The Latina held out her pinky for her friend to take and they left the two girls alone.

"You two have a very unorthodox relationship." Rachel said as they took a seat next to each other.

"I know it seems that way, but she isn't good at showing her feelings. Have you noticed that the Jock that slushied you last week came into school today with his nose in a splint? Don't tell anyone but, Santana did that yesterday when I told her that the slushy was meant for me, and she seemed impressed by your heroic deed too." The blonde smiled at her.

"That explains her attitude towards me today, I was a little curious. I shouldn't condone what she did, but I'm proud of her. That makes me a bad person doesn't it?"

"No, it makes you human."

"Quinn? May I ask you something?" She said playing with the hem of her skirt.

"Okay."

"What changed?"

"That was vague; you're normally more articulate than that."

"Your attitude towards me."

"Oh that." Quinn took a deep breath. "Reality changed. I saw a glimpse of a girl in you that I'd never seen before, or wasn't really looking for. I'm a curious girl; that sliver of someone different intrigued me because she's so different than the one everyone see's here in school. And when you opened up you became a Rachel Berry shaped wrecking ball and obliterated this wall that had been built up around me by my parents and my peers, and even myself, now here I am left in the dust and rubble, exposed and vulnerable and totally free." The blonde looked at her and smiled.

Rachel's throat was tight, her palms were sweaty and the sting of tears was blurring her vision, she said the only thing she could say. "Ditto."

Quinn laughed hard and grabbed her, pulling her into a tight embrace. "I'm sorry Rachel, I wish I could take back every single slushy and insult I've ever thrown at you, I know I don't deserve any of the kindness you've shown me, but I'm hoping that we can pretend that this last week was the beginning of a clean slate."

Rachel pulled away, leaving one hand resting on the other girls' hip, while the other wiped away the tears. She smiled the happiest smile and nodded because she still couldn't speak.

Quinn pulled her back in and kissed the top of her head. "Jeez, if anyone could see us now they'd think that some witch had come in here and swapped our bodies around, because  _no one_  would believe that  _I_  was the one being intense and overly dramatic." The blonde joked, letting her own tears fall.

The Diva chuckled and managed a "Yeah." And she buried herself into the other girl more.

Quinn Fabray mark III wasn't her Chaos after all, she was her serenity.

 


	6. Chapter 6

When Quinn woke up Tuesday morning all she could see was, well, darkness. She fumbled around on the nightstand to find her phone and looked at it bleary eyed. Five thirty A.M was not a civilized time to be awake, only crazy people woke up this early. She didn't know what time she'd fallen asleep last night, but it had been before eight. All that crying she'd done with Rachel in the choir room yesterday had completely drained her.

She picked up her pillow and screamed into it when the memory of her embarrassingly, over the top confession to the Diva as to why she'd been so different recently came back flooding back to her.

Seriously, she could curse these stupid baby hormones for making her stupid brain, tell her stupid mouth, say those stupid things. Okay, so they were true but that didn't mean she didn't want to just bury her head in a bucket of sand right now and wait for her own humiliation to be over with. It was lucky that Rachel Berry practically thrives off drama; if she'd said it to anyone else she'd probably have to move to the North Pole so she'd never had to face anyone ever again, except for the occasional explorer and maybe Santa.

When she thought she'd smothered herself sufficiently she went upstairs to get herself an orange and then went into the living room to put on the TV. Not that there was a great deal of watchable shows on, but it took away the boredom for a while, even if that meant channel surfing for an hour.

At six thirty she sent a text to Rachel because she knew the other girl would be up. Her phone rang ten seconds later and when she answered, all she could hear was a whirring noise and what sounded like panting; she pulled the phone away from her ear and frowned at the screen, making sure it really was Rachel calling.

"Rachel?"

" _Yeah."_

"What are you doing?"

" _My morning work out routine."_

"You know it's customary to say 'Hello' and not just breathe heavily down the phone. It makes you sound like a creepy stalker."

" _Sorry, I hadn't realized that you'd answered. Are you, Brittany and Santana playing again today?"_

Quinn tried to focus on the other girls' words, and  _not_  on the breathy way they were being said. "We are. You want to watch again?"

" _I do."_ __  
  
"Will you dress up as a cheerleader?"

" _No."_

"Aww, why not? I want you to spell out my name with your arms and wave Pom Poms in the air like you just don't care." She smiled when the Diva laughed.

" _I'm not a cheerleader and because of this I don't actually own a cheerleading uniform. That would be the main reason for not dressing up as one."_

"So you'd do it if you had one?" That sounded  _way_  too eager.

" _I don't think I could fully commit myself to a definite answer."_

"That's a 'maybe' then."

" _I'll neither confirm nor deny."_

"Spoilsport." Quinn said as she got up to fetch herself another orange.

" _That's me. I'm also a Killjoy and a Party Pooper."_

The blonde chuckled as she threw the piece of fruit in the air, bounced it off her upper arm and caught it in her hand. She shouldn't be as impressed with that ability as she was. "You sure are."

The whirring stopped then she heard a rustle.  _"Okay, work out done. I'm all sweaty now and I need a shower. Shall I meet you in the gym?"_

"Yeah. Eight o'clock?"

" _Eight it is. See you later."_

She hung up and pinched the bridge of her nose. Apparently, Charlie was playing squash with the words 'Sweaty' and 'Shower' against the wall of her imagination. She had to go and take a shower of her own, which was slightly colder than usual.

When she got to school she found Rachel sitting in the gym, the singer had a large pink piece of card leaning against the seats next to her.

"Whatcha got there?"

The Diva grinned. "You'll see."

"I reject that answer."

"I veto your rejection."

"Damn."

"You'll just have to wait until Brittany and Santana arrive."

When the two girls turned up a minute later; the Latina cocked her eyebrow and smirked at Quinn when she saw the other brunette standing on the sidelines, both Cheerio's put their bags down pulling out their Sbuck equipment and the three players huddled up ready to start the game.

"Hey Tubbers. Looks like you've got yourself a fan." Santana nodded in the direction of the singer who was waving a sign around that said 'Team Quinn'. It had so much glitter; it looked like a fairy with the flu sneezed on it.

"Shut it Lopez. You're just jealous that you haven't got anyone to cheer for you. She clearly put some effort into that."

"Yeah she did. And we all know what that means. You've got a friend for life now; you'll never get rid of her even if you tried. You are so screwed." Santana stuck her tongue out and smiled.

"Bite me." Yes it was kind of weird but it was overshadowed by it being very sweet. She turned to Brittany who'd been waiting patiently. "Ready B?" The other blonde smiled and blew the whistle in her mouth.

Even though she was almost seven months pregnant, she was still agile enough to totally whoop both of their asses, and the singer being so enthusiastic about cheering her on helped too. She only looked over to Rachel once because she does wear particularly short skirts, and she was jumping around a lot.

When the game was over the Brittany shook her hand and congratulated her on a game well played. Santana's recognition of her triumph was a curt nod, which surprised Quinn; the Latina wasn't usually such a gracious loser. The cheerleaders left them alone and they went to sit on the bleachers, she was handed a giant bag of food and she played lucky dip to see what she'd be eating for her second breakfast.

"Yup, can't beat Oreo's at eight thirty in the morning."

The other girl rolled her eyes and nudged her. "That probably isn't the best option."

"But I picked it out now, I can't put it back it would break all the rules." Quinn put on her best sad panda face.

"Your crazy logic makes no sense to me." The singer said with a sweet smile.

"I know." She agreed, and twisted the cookie to break it in half then putting both halves in her mouth. She liked the filling to be on the top.

She looked at Rachel's hand next to her and took hold of it, linking their fingers together, she wasn't normally very affectionate but this girl sort of drew it out of her. She watched her thumb brush over the small hand she was holding thinking how soft it was.

"Quinn? Are you okay?"

She looked up into the brown eyes and smiled. "Yeah. You know what I was thinking about while I was waiting to text you this morning?"

"You were waiting to text me?" The Diva asked playfully.

"No." The blonde answered slowly. "Maybe." She grinned. "Anyway. What I was thinking about was that it has only been a week since the slushy incident. It seems like it was forever ago, so much has changed and yet nothing has changed, I know I told you this yesterday, but I'm not the same person I was seven days ago, you changed that, and I still find it a little hard to comprehend."

Rachel turned to face Quinn and put the hand that wasn't being held on her cheek. "It must be very confusing to be you." She said smiling softly, tucking a strand of blonde hair behind an ear.

The blonde laughed. "It can be, yes. Things haven't been great these last few months, I've been kicked out of two homes," Rachel tried to pull her hand away, but Quinn kept it in place. "I don't blame you Rach, I know you're sorry for what happened, but I have only myself to blame for all of this." The Diva was looking down and Quinn bent her head to catch the other girls' eye. "Since living at Puck's, I've been finding it harder and harder to keep myself out of the misery that I was drowning in." Rachel tried to pull away again, and the blonde was having none of it. She needed to say this. "Until last week. Until you. You pulled me out, I don't know why and I don't know how but you did, and I need to thank you for that." She pulled out a pack of tissues from her bag and handed them to the singer. "I'm sorry, I'm not normally like this, and I really don't want to be the reason you're crying."

Rachel finally looked at her with a smile and took the tissues. "It's happy crying."

"Well that's okay then." She leaned in and gave the smaller girl a kiss on the cheek, then wrapped her arm around the small waist and brought her into a hug. They stayed like this until just before first bell.

They walked towards the lockers before class and they were met by Santana and Brittany. The blonde Cheerio grabbed hold of Rachel and embraced her tightly, making the tiny brunette lose her balance and fall against the locker bank.

"Don't try and fight it Berry, it'll just make her squeeze tighter." The Latina said when the singer gave her a confused look.

"Why is B hugging Rachel?" Quinn whispered.

Santana raised her shoulders. "She's affectionate."

"Don't you be using the shrug of denial on me Lopez. I know, you know."

"Why would I know? I don't know what goes on in that head of hers."

Puck, Mike and Artie came up to them and looked on curiously. "Looks like we've got ourselves some les-glee-ans boys."

"As impressed as I am with your word play Noah, it is however inaccurate." Rachel said without looking at him because Brittany was still holding on to her and she couldn't move out of the vice grip.

"A guy can dream can't he?"

"Of course, I'm not one to crush someone's dreams, but I'd rather they didn't involve me."

"Too late." Puck went around the blonde cheerleader to give the singer a smile before the three boys walked towards their classes.

"Britt?" Santana said putting a hand on her friends back. "I think you should let her go now."

"Okay." The taller blonde pulled away and linked arms with the other Cheerio. "Later guys." She waved as they walked off.

Rachel looked perplexed. "What was that about?"

"I have no idea." Quinn said frowning.

* * *

Quinn spent the first of her morning classes trying to pay attention to the teacher but not really succeeding, instead she went through her notebook and ripped out all the unflattering doodles of Rachel she had drawn. She counted them when she was done and there were twenty nine pages. It usually took her around fifteen minutes to do each sketch and she worked out that she'd spent about seven hours drawing pictures of the Diva, and that was when she didn't even like her. That seemed a lot.

The lesson before lunch was biology, which she hated. Miss O'Neil the teacher would often get her to stand in front of the class and put a diagram of the human reproductive system over her baby bump. It was humiliating, and even though the students were all only a couple of years away from being legal adults, they still laughed at the words 'Penis' and 'Vagina'

She decided to feign sickness for this lesson and go to the library instead. Science was boring, stories were fun. She picked up 'George's Marvelous Medicine', she must've read it fifty times and it never got old. She and her sister created all the recipes one weekend while their parents were away, and even after Judy and Russell came home and grounded them both for making the house look like a liquid bomb had exploded, it never stopped being the best weekend of her life.

She pulled out a bag of cookies that Rachel had baked, and put them on the table. While she was reading, a hand came into view and took one of the cookies away.

"Mmm, tasty."

Quinn looked at Santana with a quirked eyebrow. "Yes I know, and they're mine."

"Did Man-Hands make these?"

"Don't call her that. Yes, Rachel made them."

"She knows how to bake, I'll give her that."

"You should try her truffles." The blonde said taking a cookie for herself.

"Is that a euphemism?"

"For what?"

" _Her Truffles."_

"Jesus Santana, has Joey Tribbiani taken over your body or something?"

"What can I say? I channel him when I need to imply sexual innuendos."

"You're an idiot."

The Latina nodded. "Are we doing lunch today? Or do you have other plans?"

"I'm meeting Rachel."

"You know, if I'd told you a week ago that you'd be practically attached to the hip with Berry you'd have laughed in my face."

"Things change. So are you going to tell me what the thing with B was this morning?"

"I told you, I don't know what makes her do the things she does."

"I don't believe you."

"I don't care." Santana took another cookie, skillfully avoiding the blonde's hand trying to slap her away. "Later Fabray." She said walking off towards the door.

* * *

She and Rachel had only been in the auditorium for five minutes before Jesse came storming through the door, and he didn't look very happy. He took the Diva aside and it looked like there was some tension between them. What kind she didn't know, but tension was tension ten feet away. It frustrated her that Rachel seemed so blind to the fact that Jesse St. James was a) A spy and b) Possibly gay. But the son of a bitch was charming, good looking and a senior. What girl wouldn't swoon at that? God she wanted to stab him in the face with a Spork.

The brunette came back after he stormed out and gave her a forced smile as she put her lunch back in her bag. "He's a little annoyed that I forgot to meet him again. I haven't practiced enough recently and we were supposed to meet in the choir room everyday this week to make up for it."

"Do you really need practice that much? Your voice is amazing." Quinn asked standing up from her position against the back of the piano.

"It isn't perfect though, and if we're going to win at regionals then I need to be my best."

"But you're perfect now, I think that boyfriend of yours is putting too much pressure on you." She hesitated when Rachel gave her an odd look. "What? Too much pressure can lead to a breakdown; call me selfish for not wanting you to turn into a nut-job and end up in an asylum."

She was rewarded with a genuine smile this time. "Well thank you Quinn, I appreciate your concern for my mental health."

"You are totally welcome."

"I have to go to the choir room now though." The brunette said apologetically.

"I'll come watch if you'd like."

"You don't have to; it probably won't be very interesting for you."

"It's okay, I like hearing you sing, and so does she." She held Rachel's hand and put it over her stomach. She'd never told anyone that the first time she felt her baby kick was during one of the Diva's solo's and it completely freaked her out when it happened, but then it became comforting, it meant that she was alright.

Rachel bit her bottom lip and smiled. "Really?"

"Yup. She clearly has taste."

The brunette put her other hand on the bump and rubbed it gently. "Thanks."

Quinn laughed when the other girl pulled away quickly looking terrified. "Rachel, it's okay, she was just kicking."

The singer relaxed and then beamed, putting her hands back. "Wow. I've never felt a baby kick before, the idea of it always unsettled me, but that was really amazing."

There was quiet for a whole minute as Rachel stared at her stomach, smiling happily to herself, then she shook her head and looked up at the blonde. "We should get to the choir room."

"Yeah, come on then." Quinn said picking up her bag.

The boy didn't seem to like that Quinn had come into the room with his girlfriend, throughout the practice he would glare at her, but she could out-glare his pansy ass with her eyes closed. Did he really think he could intimidate her? She used to be the HBIC for crying out loud. She also spotted Santana through the window of the door pulling faces at her and then she disappeared, when her phone buzzed (Rachel had made her put it on vibrate) she opened up the message and rolled her eyes.

_I can't believe you'd rather watch Barbara Streisand and Elton John sing Do-Ra-Mi than hang out with me and B._

The Latina came back in view wiping the window with her sleeve then put her mouth on the glass, and blew, when the two singers turned around at the noise she made a run for it. Yeah, Santana Lopez was about as subtle as a drag queen at a ladies tea party. Jesse glared at her again, because she apparently controlled everything the Latina did, but Rachel laughed so she gave him a smug smile.

* * *

She actually liked two of her afternoon subjects, American History and English were always classes she paid attention in. But English was her favourite. Ever since she got kicked off the squad she had more time on her hands, and a lot of that time was used up by reading. She had at least three books on the go usually, which would sometimes confuse her if she forgot which story she'd picked up. She'd have to check the cover when during what she thought was Little Dorrit, the embodiment of Death and his horse Binky popped up. Then she'd have to reset her brain for Terry Pratchett.

She ran out of last class and went excitedly to Glee.

Because Mr. Schuester wasn't able to make it the next day, they had their Glee meeting today. She sat at the back like she usually did and spent quite a bit of time watching Rachel being bombarded with inane questions and ridiculous statements from the two boys that were sitting either side of her. Santana laughed at her for doing this but she still continued to watch, she wanted to be ready for when the singer looked back in her direction so could smile at her and give her the 'Aren't boys silly' look. She also recognized that waiting for someone to acknowledge you was very much in the realm of desperation, but screw it, so what if she wanted to be the centre of Rachel's attention?

She didn't even have to ask Brittany to call out to Rachel today when practice ended; the other blonde just did it. The Diva flapped her arms a bit when she was hugged again, but clearly just gave up. There really was no point trying to escape a Brittany embrace.

Quinn looked at the Latina and raised her brow. "What  _is_  going on?"

"You're like a broken record, stop asking me."

"Not until I find out what the hell this is about." The blonde huffed.

"Maybe B is just trying to kill her with love." Quinn blanked and stared at her. "I can see you didn't find that funny."

"No."

"Britt, let's go." Santana said as she dragged the other girl away leaving them alone.

Rachel looked at the closed door, then to the pregnant girl. "I am feeling befuddled."

Quinn chuckled. "I don't blame you." They went to sit on the piano bench before she carried on. "I like the word befuddled." She said playing a note. "I also like the word nominal."

"Both words are very good words." The brunette agreed. "Tell me something else about yourself that I don't know."

Quinn clicked her tongue as she thought about this. "Uh, I've had the intro to 'Take On Me' stuck in my head since I was five."

"I was thinking something more profound than that, but I suppose I wasn't very specific so I can't complain."

"No you can't." The blonde chuckled. "I told you something, now you have to tell me."

"Okay." She bit her lip for a second. "I used to think Eskimos were mythological beings."

"Seriously?"

"Well have you ever seen one?"

"Not in person, no."

"Exactly! Anyway, I said  _used to_ , it was when I was a kid."

"Aww, little Rachel was adorably oblivious."

"Whereas now, I'm just adorable." The Diva grinned.

Quinn tapped the other girls arm. "And so modest too."

They stayed in there for another half an hour before Rachel said she had to leave to get ready for her date with Jesse.

Driving back to the Puckerman's she felt inexplicably sad, so just avoided the family and went straight to her basement, putting on some music and picked up one of her books. Rachel kept popping into her head though and she'd try and make the thoughts go away, the book wasn't distracting so she tried thinking about other things. Like Sbuck, and how she wanted to bring up with Brittany and Santana in their next meeting, a motion to change the name of it. Because it sounded retarded.

When her phone beeped, she smiled at seeing Rachel's ID.

_Date isn't going well. Jesse just said that 'Wicked' was a sub-par musical. Can you believe it?_

Quinn couldn't believe it. She'd never seen the show and had no opinion on it what so ever. But she knew a couple of the songs, and Rachel's rendition of 'Defying Gravity' made the baby go crazy, so she was fully prepared to be as outraged as the Diva was on Jesse's view.

**_I can't! He wouldn't know a good musical if it came up and bit him on his ass._ **

_No he would not. I'm not having fun, I'd rather be hanging out with you._

The blonde wished that Jesse St James was standing in front of her right now so she could laugh in his face.

**_That is because I'm awesome._** She left out 'Significantly more awesome than your boyfriend, because he's a toe-rag'

_Very true. And you probably won't tell me that Barbra Streisand's best work was in 'South Park'_

It was a good job they were texting, she didn't think Rachel would appreciate the laugh she just let out.

**_Rach that's terrible. You should think about jacking him in for someone with better taste._ **

_I think I might have to. Got to go now, we're about to go into the movie theatre_.

She put her phone down and ran upstairs into Puck's room, holding her breath as she retrieved the laptop from his bed, then ran back downstairs. She flipped it open and exited all the porn and stuff about World of Warcraft, then went in search of Barbra Streisand's best work. She watched another four episodes of the show, and as she was about to watch a fifth, when Puck came charging down the stairs.

"You took my laptop." He waved a hand angrily at his computer.

"You took my virginity." She answered pointing at her bump.

"That cost me almost a thousand dollars."

Quinn got up quickly and grabbed the laptop. "Leave now, or I'm smashing this over your head."

"Okay." He may not have been the most insightful person, but he recognized that tone, and he wasn't about to see if she would go through the threat. She laughed as he ran out of the room and sat back down pressing play on the computer.

At half ten she received another message from Rachel saying goodnight, and she replied the same. Then she brought up the Diva's MySpace videos and put the speaker next to her stomach, falling asleep as her little girl moved to the song.

 


	7. Seven

Rachel was sitting on the bleachers overlooking the playing field. She usually only did this when she wanted to think about things, but today was different, and she was disregarding her usual Thursday morning routine because she thought this was more important. She stood up when Coach Sylvester shouted random insults and blew the whistle indicating Cheerio's practice was finished, then she made her way down to the field.

"Santana? May I have a word with you?"

"You know Berry, just because you're friends with Q now, doesn't mean that  _we_  are." The cheerleader said giving her a bored look as she shoved a towel in her bag.

"I am aware of that fact. But I would like to discuss something with you, about Quinn."

Santana straightened up and folded her arms across her chest. "Why? What's wrong?"

Rachel stopped herself from smiling at the taller brunette. Santana 'I'm A Mother Fucking Badass' Lopez had her bravado, but if there was a slight chance that someone she cared about was in trouble, then that façade she liked to keep up started to crack. "Nothing is wrong, exactly." The Diva reassured. "But there is something not right."

Santana relaxed. "Yeah no arguments from me. What she sees in you I don't know."

Rachel rolled her eyes. The Latina's insults had become less and less hurtful, and mostly they seemed for show these days. "Regardless of your feelings towards me Santana, I know that you care for Quinn, and I want to help her."

"Really? And how are you going to do that?"

"I have a plan. And you are an integral part of it."

"I don't think I like where this is going."

"I wouldn't normally ask, but you seem like someone who can get things done."

"You make it sound like I'm in the mafia." Santana quirked an eyebrow and flashed a smirk. "Fine. What do you need me to do?"

"Not now. I'll meet you in the library later."

"Okay, but this plan of yours better not be a waste of my time Berry."

"It won't be." Rachel smiled up at her. "I guarantee you."

Santana stepped forward and leaned down, closing in on her. "Is that so? That's quite a promise to make; if you fail to live up to it then you might find that your extensive Broadway memorabilia will be sleeping with the fishes. Understood?"

Rachel nodded. It was very probable that the cheerleader was only joking, but she wasn't going to risk it.

The Latina smiled and straightened up, looking over to see Brittany walking in their direction. "If you want to avoid another bear hug from B, I suggest you leave now."

The Diva glanced over to the blonde and waved as she quickly made her getaway. It wasn't that she was against being hugged by Brittany, but ithad become such a frequent occurrence the last two days it was beginning to freak her out a little.

* * *

She'd arranged to meet Santana in the library during her free period before lunch, and as Rachel looked around the room protectively clutching a ring-binder to her chest, she felt a little guilty for not actually using the time to study. When Santana finally arrived several minutes late and slumped into the chair next to her, she placed the folder on the table, sliding it across to the taller girl.

Santana stared at it with a frown. "What's that?"

"It's The Plan."

"Right. Of course it is." The Latina took a deep breath and opened it up. When she saw the page in front of her was practically empty, she chuckled. "This is your plan? I was expecting something with a little more detail."

Rachel shook her head. "Santana, that's just the title, you need to turn the page."

Santana flipped the sheet of paper. "Oh my God, you've indexed it!" The cheerleader ran her finger down the list and when she got to the bottom of the page she looked over to the Diva. "You have five contingency plans? Isn't that a bit excessive?"

"You can never have too many back-up plans, I narrowed it down to the five most likely worst case scenarios, and I have a separate folder which consists entirely of the contingency plans if you'd like to read that?"

"Yeah, that's not going to happen, because I'm not even going to be reading this, there are thirty seven pages here and my time is precious. So why don't you just give me the highlights of -" She turned back to the title page. " _Operation: Basement Dweller Extraction_. That's not very catchy by the way."

"It doesn't need to be." Rachel scowled.

"So what is my part in this?"

"You have a car, correct?"

"You want me to be the wheelman?" Santana scoffed. "If that's all you need me for then just ask Puck." The Latina pushed her chair back, and got up.

"I don't trust him with this." Rachel said hurriedly.

"And you trust me?"

"We don't know each other very well, but Quinn trusts you."

The cheerleader sighed, and sat back down. "Does she even know what you're doing?"

"No." Rachel anxiously chewed on her bottom lip for a few moments. "Do you think she'll be angry? Am I crossing some boundary?"

"You always cross a boundary. And no, I don't think she'll be angry. She likes you, for whatever reason, and she likes your Dads and your house. Wait, it is your house you're moving her into right?"

"Yes, you'd know that if you read my plan."

"I'm not reading your plan." Santana raised her brow and stared at her. "Give me the abridged audio version"

Rachel sighed. "Oh okay. Do you think you could convince Brittany to help?"

"That depends on what you want her to do."

"Distract Quinn for at least two hours tomorrow."

"That's all? She would do that even without a plan." The Latina picked up the folder and flicked through it. "I can't believe you put this much effort into something as simple as getting a small amount of stuff out of a basement."

The Diva squirmed in her seat staying quiet. Just because they weren't close, didn't mean Santana wasn't aware of some of the quirks the other girl had. The silence spoke volumes. "Berry? What aren't you telling me? You know when I said abridged I didn't mean that you completely missed out important bits of information. So spill."

Rachel pursed her lips and inhaled. "It isn't just the Puckerman basement I need help with."

"Then what else?"

"Well," The smaller girl started, averting her eyes from the cheerleader. "I need you to understand that I in no way approve of this, but I feel like it is a necessary evil towards the greater good. And it goes against my whole moral fiber to even think about doing this -"

"I don't want to hurt you, but if you don't get to the point I'm going to punch you in the nose."

Rachel went wide eyed and put her hand over her face. "I want to break into the Fabray house." She said quickly.

Santana gave her a genuine smile. "Boo yah! Oh, I am in. You should've said this first. Can we trash the place?"

"No!" The Diva said taking her hand away from her nose. "This must be a covert operation. And I think that you have the necessary skills needed to get this job done right. If it wasn't so gender specific, I'd say you had the potential for becoming a Navy SEAL."

"I already agreed, you don't need to flatter me."

"It wasn't flattery Santana. When I conceived this plan, you were the only logical choice."

"Yeah okay. Hey, have you asked Puck how he feels about what you plan on doing?"

"Of course. He agreed when I informed him of the many possible hazards of someone sleeping in the same room as a furnace, and for the safety of his unborn child it would be best if Quinn comes to live with me."

"I bet he was surprised when you told him it was your house she'd be moving into."

"He was. Then he made some very inappropriate sexual comments."

"Sounds about right." The Latina chuckled and stood up, hovering for a second. "Can I take this?" She pointed at the plan folder. "It actually kinda sounds like fun now."

"Certainly." Rachel beamed. "It has all the information you will need."

Santana nodded before walking off. The Diva smiled to herself proudly, even though there were parts of the plan that were a tad dubious, it was all coming together nicely. Phases Three and Four had just been completed, and the final Phase would begin straight after Glee tomorrow. It was actually very exciting.

* * *

Rachel sat in between Quinn and Brittany during the Glee practice the next day, the choice of being bombarded with the weird affection from the blonde cheerleader, and being pestered by the two boys constantly was an easy decision to make.

She leaned into the pregnant girl and whispered, "It's Friday and my turn to cook, would you like to come over for dinner again?"

Quinn's face fell. "I can't. B wants me to help her with her homework tonight, and I promised her I would."

"I have something to do after Glee and won't be starting it until at least seven, if you can make it by half past you won't be missing anything at all."

The blonde smiled. "I should be done by then. You know Rach; if you're not careful I might start to automatically associate tasty food with you, or the other way around."

Rachel frowned as she tried to work out the logistics of that sentence. "So what does that mean you'll be eating then?"

"Uh…" Quinn laughed nervously. "I don't know. Look, Mr. Schue is talking about something," She said pointing at the teacher. "It's probably very important and interesting." She gave her a manic smile and turned her attention to the man standing in front of them.

Rachel glanced over to the other girl with a quirked eyebrow, then felt Brittany take hold of her hand. She was surrounded by confusing blondes. She mentally shrugged; at least it was better than being surrounded by competitive boys.

After the session had ended, and Quinn shouted "See you later" to her as Brittany dragged her out into the hall, Rachel and Santana stood awkwardly in the empty choir room.

"So what did you say to Jesse?"

"I told him I required your help in Spanish."

"Sneaky." The Latina said giving her an approving look. "Right I'm going to get changed, I'll meet you in the parking lot."

Rachel smiled at her. "Okay." She picked up her sports bag after the other girl had left and she made her way to the bathroom to change into her 'Mission Clothes'. She was feeling quite calm about this, considering she was about to commit a serious crime.

Santana was leaning against the side of the car with her hands in her pockets when she left the school, either she had taken considerably longer than she thought to get changed, or the other girl was very fast.

"Are you dressed as Kim Possible?" The cheerleader asked laughing.

"She was one of my childhood heroes, and I thought it was appropriate. We are on a Mission after all."

"Does this mean I'm the idiotic sidekick?" Santana asked suddenly becoming serious. "Because I am  _no one's_ goofy sidekick."

"I don't think anyone would ever call you that. Mostly due to the fear of what you would do to them. Really, I'd say you were probably Shego, if I had to choose a character you were most like."

The Latina was pleased by this comparison. "Fuck yeah! Good choice Berry."

"You realize that Shego is also a sidekick?"

"But she isn't goofy, she's a total badass, and she's clearly the brains of the operation."

"Agreed. So are you ready?"

"And willing." The taller girl said as she grabbed Rachel's bag, throwing it in the trunk, then got into the drivers seat. When the Diva had got into the passengers side Santana looked over to her. "So we're going to Puck's first right?"

"Yes. He has agreed to help with any heaving lifting, and the more people we have to help, the quicker it will be done."

"Does he know what we'll be doing after?"

"Oh no! The only people who will know about that are you and I. It's best if we don't tell Quinn, but she'll probably work it out, and I'm hoping the Fabray's won't notice anything is missing. They don't seem to be very caring or attentive parents"

"No they aren't." Santana laughed and turned the ignition. She took a deep breath and looked over to Rachel. "Let's roll."

* * *

It took them forty five minutes to pack up all of Quinn's belongings from the basement. Actually, it only took them twenty minutes, but Noah's little sister, Maya kept distracting Rachel with questions.

"So is Quinn moving in with you now?" The girl asked her.

The Diva stopped packing for a second and smiled. "Yes."

"Will she have her own room?"

"Yes."

"Is it a big room?"

"It's a moderate size. It isn't as large as the basement."

"But it probably isn't full of crap either is it?"

Puck, who was nearby, came over and tapped his sister on the head. "Language Maya."

The girl pulled a face at him and turned back to Rachel. "I'm going to miss her; I like her more than him." She pointed at her brother, who just rolled his eyes.

Rachel frowned. "Would you prefer her to stay?"

"No. She's sad here, and she always gets happy when she talks about you, so I'm guessing being with you will make her even happier."

The singer couldn't help but smile. "Thank you Maya. Does this mean I get your stamp of approval?"

"And then some." The young girl grinned. "But you have to promise to take care of her."

"I will, I promise."

"Hey Berry, can we hurry it up? We got, you know, stuff to do."

"Yes, that right." Rachel put her hand on Maya's shoulder. "It was nice to see you again, and don't worry about Quinn, she'll be safe with me."

The little Puckerman moved forward and embraced her. "I know." She said quietly, and then let go.

"Noah, would you be so kind as to take the bags to the car?"

"Yeah." He said flexing his Guns before he picked up the cases.

The two Puckerman's left and Rachel went to stand by Santana, who was smirking. "What has you so amused?"

"Just finding it funny that an eleven year old is the same height as you."

"I don't see why that's funny." Rachel said crossing her arms. "Maya is very tall for her age."

"Sure. That's one way of looking at it." Santana grinned. "We need to get going."

"Yes. We do." She said narrowing her eyes, then stormed up the stairs, ignoring the laugh from the girl behind her.

They got back into the car, the next stop was her house to drop off what they had just collected before heading to the Fabray's, and apart from the hum of the engine there was silence. Rachel was usually very chatty when she was nervous as a way of distracting herself, but she had a lot on her mind. And almost all of it was about Quinn. She heard a cough and turned to the girl driving.

"You know why B keeps hugging you?" Santana asked.

"No I don't."

"Me and Brittany overheard the conversation the two of you had in the gym a few days ago, when Quinn told you that you saved her. Whatever you've done for her, I'm grateful. So is B, and the way she expresses it is through her hugs. Neither one of us knew how to help Quinn, so…" Santana gave her a smile. "But it still doesn't mean that we're friends, and if you tell anyone I talked about touchy feely stuff, I'll kill you."

Rachel laughed. "I won't say a word."

They pulled up outside the Berry home and David was waiting for them at the door when they walked up with a suitcase each.

"Is this all she has?" He asked when they handed them over to him.

"No, she left some stuff at Finn's, we're about to pick it up now." Santana answered. She'd been told that she was the one who had to do the majority of the lying because Rachel wasn't very good at not being honest with her Dad's.

"That's a relief." He gave them a warm smile as he went back into the house. "Will you be long Sweetie?" He asked setting the cases down in the hall.

"I shouldn't think so. See you later Dad." They both waved at him as he shut the door then Rachel pulled out her phone and looked at the time. "Mr. and Mrs. Fabray should be leaving the house in fifteen, we should park close so we can watch them leave."

"Can we stop off to get something to drink?"

"No." The Diva answered as they got into the car.

"But I'm thirsty."

"I have water in my bag."

"Wow, I can barely contain my excitement."

Rachel gave her a pointed look. "I wrote a paragraph on the importance of keeping yourself hydrated in my plan; maybe you should've paid attention to that."

"I must've skipped that part. Can I have some of that water or what?"

The Diva huffed and went into her bag, pulling out the bottle. "There."

The other girl took it with a snarl and drained the entire contents, then handed her back the empty bottle. "Thanks Berry. I hope that wasn't your only bottle."

"No it wasn't."

"Oh." Santana said with some disappointment, and started the car.

The Fabray house was only a few minutes away and they got there in plenty of time. The two of them sat and waited for the vehicle to exit the drive.

"Do you think this is the right thing to do?" Rachel asked keeping her eyes front.

"I wouldn't be here if I didn't. She needs to get out of Puck's. If you're wondering why I didn't have her come live with me, it's because it's just me and my sister, and Izzy's paycheck wouldn't cover the three of us."

"Quinn mentioned that." She said giving the Latina an understanding smile, then turned back to face the road. "Do you think it would have been easier if I'd just asked her to move in?"

"Most definitely. But where's the fun in that? Besides, this way she doesn't have to worry about anything, you've done it all for her. The two times she's had to move have been pretty rushed, and the stress probably doesn't help the baby."

"I'm seeing a very different, caring side to you today Santana."

"No you haven't. You're imagining it."

"My mistake." She said with a small chuckle.

The Fabray car pulled out and they both sat up. "Looks like we're on." Santana said starting the car.

"It does. Remember, I'm counting on you to guide me, I don't know the layout of the house and you do."

"I know." The Latina drove them up driveway and stopped around the side of house. "How exactly are we going to pull this off Berry? It's still light, and there are people around."

"The key, as any con-man will tell you, is to act like you belong here. If you're having second thoughts, we can leave."

"No. I'm just nervous."

"That's understandable. I am too."

Santana opened the door. "Let's go break the law." She gave the Diva a confident grin as she got out and went into the trunk to get the empty suitcases.

The cheerleader retrieved the spare key from the plant pot in the garden and then went around to open the back door which lead into the kitchen. Rachel had a theory that you could tell a lot about a person by their kitchen, and the Fabray's was sterile and cold. She didn't know a great deal about Quinn's parents, but this seemed to suit them perfectly.

"Okay, lead the way."

Santana nodded and Rachel followed as the girl strode off. They entered the bedroom and glanced around it.

"Has it changed at all?" The Diva asked.

"No."

"We should get on with this, you know what her favourite things are, so just get as much as will fit in these." She put the cases on the bed and unzipped them. "Does she have a laptop? Noah mentioned something about her having to borrow his."

"Yeah, I'll get it. Berry you should just go to the front bedroom and keep a look out, I'll pack everything up."

"If you're sure."

"I am." Santana replied with a stern, focused look as she glanced around the room.

Rachel found her way to the master bedroom, walked to the window and ducked down. There was no sign of the police, and the only people outside were joggers and dog walkers. It really would've been easier to just ask Quinn to move in and not come here at all. But the blonde had told her about all the unnecessary material things she had to leave behind when her parents threw her out, it didn't seem right. She wanted Quinn to feel at home with her, and personal touches helped when you were moving for the third time in as many months. Not that the pregnant girl knew she was moving yet.

She knew that she had selfish reasons for wanting to move Quinn into her house, reasons that weren't anything to do with not wanting the girl to stay in a basement. This friendship that had developed between them was becoming addictive for her, when the blonde wasn't around she missed her and it was beginning to affect her concentration. She was missing vocal training lessons, forgetting about Jesse, she'd even forgotten that she was supposed to be making cupcakes for the Debate team bake sale.

The one thing that had changed which confused her, and she wasn't sure if it had anything to do with Quinn but it did seem to coincide, was her lack of tolerance for Finn. She found herself feeling very irritated by him, she couldn't put her finger on what it was that made her want to just tell him to shut up, but that's what she wanted to do, and she felt terrible about it because he was so sweet. Sometimes.

"Let's get the fuck out of here Berry." Santana said from the doorway.

"That was quick." Rachel jumped up and took a suitcase from the other girl.

"I've probably forgotten loads of stuff, but I just want to get out of here. Now!"

Rachel nodded and they both went as fast as they could, while carrying heavy suitcases, to the car. The Latina grabbed the case she was holding when they got there and put them in the trunk as the Diva got in. When they were both safely inside Santana had to force herself to not drive like a bat out of hell.

The singer held her breath as the other girl drove slowly out of the area, exhaling loudly when it looked like they were in the clear. "That was far more intense than I'd anticipated." She looked over to Santana, whose knuckles were white from holding onto the wheel so tightly. "Are you alright?"

"I am never doing that again. I think I'm gonna hurl."

"We'll be at my house soon, you can collect yourself there, and if you need to, you can use our bathroom to vomit."

Santana only nodded a response and spent the rest of the ride breathing deeply.

Lucas walked up to them after they pulled up and hadn't made a move to leave the car. He opened the passenger's side door and bent down. "Is everything alright?"

"Santana is feeling nauseas Daddy; we're just waiting until it passes. Could you go to the trunk and get the bags?" She gave him a bright smile. "We'll be in shortly."

"Okay Honey."

When he went back into the house she turned to the Latina. "Will you be fine to drive?"

"Yeah. I'm feeling better now. So much for my SEAL potential."

"I think you underestimate yourself."

Santana gave her a smile. "Well, I'm gonna go to Brittany's, I'll throw Quinn out and send her here."

Rachel chuckled and got out of the car. "Santana, thank you for this. I couldn't have done it without you."

"Don't mention it. Ever. To anyone." The Diva closed the door and the cheerleader gave her a wave as she drove off. Then she ran to the house and up the stairs to unpack everything so Quinn wouldn't have to lift a finger, before starting dinner.

* * *

When Quinn arrived thirty minutes later, she was already preparing the meal. She heard her Dad answer the door and welcome her in. "Look Honey, I found a stray." He said pointing at the blonde as they walked into the kitchen.

"Dad! Behave." He gave her a smile and left to go back to the den.

"Hey." Quinn said dumping her bag on the floor and standing next to her.

"Hey back." She gave her a smile. "You look peeved."

"Santana kicked me out of Brittany's. Whatever she's been doing the last couple of hours is no longer important, so now I have to pay for it."

"You got to come here earlier than expected."

"See now when you say it like that; it makes it hard for me to be mad at her because it sounds like she was doing me a favour." She grinned. "So what am I eating tonight?"

"Vegetarian lasagna okay with you? It's all homemade. Although it is turning out to look quite messy, I don't really know how that happened." Rachel frowned at the dish in front of her. She had tried so hard to make everything look  _just right_.

"I know how much of a perfectionist you are, but regardless of how it looks, I don't doubt it'll be delicious."

"I hope so."

Lucas walked into the kitchen and hugged the blonde hello. "Welcome back Kiddo."

"Thanks."

"Honey, I'll take over if you want to go do the thing now."

"Okay." She took hold of Quinn's hand and gave her a shy smile. "I have a surprise for you."

"Ooh surprises. I like surprises. Unless it involves slugs or moths. Then not so much. Does it involve either one of those?"

"Why would my surprise have slugs or moths in it?"

"It might. It would be a very crappy surprise, and the only thing you would see was a cloud of dust as I ran out the house screaming."

"In that case, you'll be pleased to know that it doesn't involve either."

"Then I'm back to being excited. So where is my surprise?"

"Come with me." The brunette still had hold of her hand and she led the way upstairs stopping outside the spare room. "Your surprise is in there."

The pregnant girl gave her an amused look and opened the door. "Is that my stuff?"

"Yes, I'm sorry, I should've just asked you if you'd like to move in. We can take it back, I'm really sorry."

Quinn went into the room and picked up a framed photo of her and her sister, then turned to Rachel with a smile. "Don't be sorry." She put the picture down and walked to the Diva, wrapping arms around her tightly. "I can't believe you did this for me."

"It wasn't just me. Santana and I did it together, that's where she's been."

"Do I want to know how you got the stuff from my parents' house?"

"No."

"S is going to be pissed off at me when I see her next."

"Why?" Rachel asked with a hint of concern.

"Because she really doesn't like being hugged."

The singer laughed. "Does this mean you'll be staying?"

"Yes."

Rachel breathed a sigh of relief. She pulled away giving the teary eyed blonde a smile then put her hands on the bump and bent down. "Welcome home Baby." She stood up, leaning into Quinn and resting her head on the taller girls' chest. "Welcome home to you too."

The blonde squeezed her and whispered, "Thank you."

 


	8. Eight

"I can't believe you two actually spent more than five minutes alone together without you committing homicide." Quinn was sitting on Rachel's bed, talking to Santana on the phone and searching through the internet for whatever took her fancy. Because she was on her own computer and she could do what she liked with it.

" _Yeah, well. Put us in the right situation and we get along just fine."_

"That makes me worry. I think if you two ever work out your differences you could take over the world. And that would be very, very bad for everyone."

_"What the hell are you talking about Fabray?"_

"That the two of you could be a very violent and talkative unstoppable force."

Quinn heard the Latina huff. _"Whatever. World domination aside, tell me the stress me and Stubbles went through was worth it. You like it there?"_

"Don't call her that. And yes, I do."

" _Good. I want to make a joke about lesbians and U-Hauls right now, but I'll leave it til you've settled in."_

"That's uncharacteristically considerate of you."

" _I know. I must be going soft or something. So are you bringing Berry to the mall later?"_

"I am."

" _Urgh. Like I haven't had to put up with her enough recently."_

"Tough luck Lopez. Me and B like her, so that makes you outnumbered my friend."

_"Stupid friendship democracy. Okay, I'm bored of talking to you now and B has just got out of the shower. Later Preggo."_

"Yeah." The blonde said with a chuckle, closing her phone and throwing it onto the bed. She went back to giving her full attention to the computer, going in search of animals doing cute things, because she wanted to keep her happy high going with as much fluffiness as possible. She hadn't stopped smiling since last night and her face had been aching for almost as long because of it. But she didn't care though.

She hadn't felt like she belonged anywhere in a long time. At Finn's and Puck's she was just a guest and she didn't feel particularly welcomed in either. And in less than twenty four hours she felt more at home here than in the place she grew up. Last night as she looked through all the things she never thought she'd see again, she realized what kind of friends she had in Rachel and Santana.

Sneaky awesome ones.

A knock on the door disturbed her and she looked to see David standing in the doorway wearing a wide grin.

"Hey Kiddo, waiting for Rachel to get back?"

"Yeah."

"So how are you settling in?" He asked sitting on the foot of the bed.

"Weirdly well actually. Thanks again for having me."

"Quinn, you've already thanked us, you don't need to say it everyday."

"I know, but I really am grateful for this."

"Well bake us a cake or something."

"Dude that would be the worst thing I could do to repay you. Unless you like charred chocolate cake."

"That's my favourite of  _all_  the burnt baked goods."

Quinn chuckled. "Mine too. So, just out of curiosity, how did Rachel manage to convince you to do this?"

"She can be pretty persuasive when she wants to be. She said to us 'Dad, Daddy, I think Quinn should move in.' and we thought about it for about two seconds and said 'Sure'"

"Wow that  _is_  pretty persuasive; I hope she uses her powers for good. But seriously, it must've taken more than that, it's not like you've just taken in a kitten. I am a heavily pregnant teenager."

"One who needs a home and not just a basement to stay in. It wasn't a difficult decision and I don't want you to worry about it. Really Quinn. Plus it helps that you're a sweet kid and we like you."

"There's something you should know." The blonde sighed and bit her nail nervously. "I... I haven't always been very kind to Rachel."

"I know." He smiled.

"You do?" She asked surprised.

"Yes. But your past relationship with Rachel is just that. The person I met last week isn't cruel; she's dorky, sweet and funny."

"That's very understanding of you."

"Everyone deserves second chances Quinn."

"I do plan on making it up to her you know, I don't know how yet but I'm going to try."

"You already have. You've become her friend; so many people don't take their time to get to know her and see passed her nervous energy, because that's mostly what it is."

"Yeah, I've recently found that out." Quinn gave him an unassuming smile. "But I'm pretty sure she's crazy."

"Oh yeah! She's my daughter and I love her but, she's nuts." He tapped his index finger on his chin for a few seconds. "She gets it from Luke."

"How have you coped all these years?" She asked with a laugh.

"Barely. But with you here now there's a nice equal ratio of crazy to sane."

"Now I see why you agreed to let me move in, you can't fool me."

"Hey, you can't blame a guy for wanting another rational person in the house."

Quinn gave him a blank stare then looked down at her bump. "Yeah, you definitely picked the right choice with a teenage girl full of baby and hormones."

"Thanks."

Both heads turned when they heard the front door open and the sound of Rachel bounding up the stairs.

"Is there any particular reason why everyone is congregating in here?" The brunette asked when she walked in, putting her bag down by her desk.

"Your bed is comfier than mine."

Rachel quirked her eyebrow and smiled. "I know. It's  _my_  bed."

David stood up and exhaled loudly. "Well, I'm going to leave you girls do whatever it is that teenage girls do."

"That would be pillow fights, putting on make up and talking about boys." Quinn said with a smirk.

"That sounds... boring. Enjoy." He nodded and walked out of the room, leaving the two alone.

Rachel took the spot on the bed David just vacated and gave Quinn's bump a gentle rub for a moment. "Did Santana say that she was okay with me accompanying you to the mall?"

"You don't need Santana's permission. I asked you, it's not up to her."

"So is that your way of saying that she wasn't happy about it?"

"Santana Lopez spends her life not being happy about things. I got her a Little Miss Grumpy T-shirt for Christmas last year, she shouted at me and threw it in my face. She failed to find the humour in the irony of her actions. The saying 'Her bark is worse than her bite' is very much applicable to her, so don't take her attitude too personally."

"I try not to." The Diva said giving her a smile. "Well, I need to take a shower before lunch."

"Okay." As Rachel walked into her bathroom the blonde went back to her computer to watch some videos of sleepy baby sloths. Partly because sleepy baby sloths are one of the cutest damn things in the world, and partly so she could get her mind out of the gutter when it came to her friend being all wet and naked.

When Rachel was done in the shower she went straight to her closet and Quinn watched with amusement as the Diva rummaged through her clothes to find the perfect Mall Outfit. "Santana says you jimmied the lock to break into my parents."

"She said no such thing, you just made that up." The Diva turned to look at her with a smirk. "The only way you will ever find out what happened yesterday is on my death bed."

"That is so not fair. You'll live until you're at least a hundred. You're very stubborn like that."

"You know me so well."

"Yeah I do." The blonde said getting off the bed to stand next to the other girl. "You really do have a lot of argyle. Standing here right in front of it is blowing my mind. Hey, where's that owl sweater?"

"Why?"

"So I can bury it."

"You are not burying my sweater. Why do you want to do that anyway?"

"Because its eyes follow me around the room." Quinn said shifting her gaze from side to side. "It's like it's watching me."

"I think you might be paranoid."

"I think you might have an evil sweater."

"I very much doubt that."

"You would say that, you're under its spell." The blonde turned to face Rachel and grabbed her shoulders, shaking her gently. "Can't you see you're being controlled? I can help you escape."

The Diva laughed. "By burying it?"

"It's the only way." Quinn nodded, letting go of Rachel and turning to the closet.

"I'd rather you just help me pick out some suitable attire for now. We'll discuss the sweater exorcism some other time."

"I'll hold you to that." The pregnant girl smiled and started going through the hangers, starting at the torso section of the wardrobe. She moved all the argyle to one side and focused on the short sleeved shirts, picking out a plain black one and handing it to the singer. As she was about to sift through the skirt and pants section something caught her eye. "Whoa, nice catsuit." She said pulling the item of clothing out and holding against herself. "So here's a question. Why do you have a catsuit?"

"Um, well. I pride myself on being fully prepared for anything that involves me showcasing my vocal talents. Though highly unlikely, I purchased the catsuit in case Principal Figgins ever agreed to let the school perform Grease. I think the role of Sandy would suit me quite well. Don't you think?"

Quinn quirked an eyebrow and shook her head. "If by 'suit the role' you mean that you can sing and dance, sure. Otherwise no. Sandy Olsson is a dumbass who changed herself so that the bum-chinned idiot boy she liked would like her back. I don't see you ever doing something so pathetic. This thing needs to be buried too." She said waving the catsuit around.

"Because it's evil?"

"No. It's just fugly."

"Yes, it is rather an obnoxious piece of clothing. I give you my full consent to destroy it."

"Really? Awesome!" Quinn threw the item on the bed and went back to the closet. She had the top half of the mall outfit sorted, now she had to figure out what the bottom half should be. Rachel's skirts weren't too bad, some of them were even nice and she was clearly comfortable in them. One of Rachel's best assets was her slim, toned, tanned legs. The blonde hesitated for a second and decided to bypass the skirts in favour of jeans, the last thing she needed was Charlie taking control while Santana was around. She'd never hear the end of it.

She pulled out a pair of stonewash jeans and white trainers and handed them to Rachel. "There. The perfect Mall Attire. I could totally be your personal dresser." She said with a grin.

"I'm not sure I trust you with that. You seem to be under the impression that a lot of my clothes are possessed by evil spirits and need to be banished from this world."

The blonde leaned down and whispered in Rachel's ear. "Shh, they can hear you." She straightened up and gave the smaller girl a wink. "Okay, get changed. We have to get going soon if we want to make it in time for Santana not to be pissed at us." She cocked her head and frowned. "Less pissed." She corrected.

* * *

Quinn was eating a pretzel as they waited for Santana and Brittany, she seriously regretted the choice of picking out jeans for Rachel because it turned out, her ass was a pretty nice asset too. A piece of scrunched up paper hitting her on the head indicated that the two cheerleaders had arrived. That and the whoop from the Latina when her projectile landed on its intended target.

"Do you ever stop eating Fabray?" Santana asked as the two girls came to stand next to her and Rachel.

"I'm eating for two." Quinn answered taking another bite.

"That's your excuse Tubbers."

"It's not an excuse Lopez, it's a reason."

"So what do the three of you usually do while you're here?" Rachel asked, putting a stop to the bickering.

"This is it." Brittany said pointing at the other two girls. "San and Q usually argue about everything while we shop. We haven't started shopping yet, but the arguing starts way before then anyway." The tall blonde gave the Diva a smile. "It's very calming."

"What happens if they don't argue?"

The tall blonde frowned. "That never happens."

"Stop talking about us like we're not here." Santana snarled at Rachel.

"Don't be such a meanie to Rachel S, she's never been shopping with us before so try and behave." Brittany said giving her friend a pointed look.

"I'll try. We didn't come here to stand around and talk, let's go."

The two cheerleaders linked pinkies and strode off, leaving Quinn and Rachel to follow behind. "Sometimes, I wonder why the hell I'm friends with her." The blonde said as she took hold of the Diva's hand. "She can be such a bitch."

"She's a cranky smart mouth who's prone to excessive violence, and that may be a bad thing sometimes but only if you're her enemy. If you're lucky enough for her to consider you a friend then you basically have your own human Pit bull who is fiercely loyal and will protect you with all she has. You are one of the lucky few Quinn. Even though you argue regularly with each other, I think that it is the glue to your friendship. She isn't particularly comfortable with expressing her feelings, and until recently neither were you. In an odd way that is how you show your affection for each other. Through mocking and sarcasm with the occasional heated word. It's also very lucky you have Brittany too, because she seems to be the only grounding effect on her." Rachel looked up at the blonde with a smile.

"Are you nervous Rach?"

"Why do you ask that?"

"Because you usually only talk a lot when you are."

The brunette opened her mouth and then closed it with a sigh. "I am a little nervous yes. This is a new experience for me. I've never gone shopping with people who actually want me around. Please don't tell Santana I compared her to a dog."

Quinn laughed. "She'd probably like it. And you are right about her, all the reasons she irritates me are the reasons I love her too."

"She does have a certain aggressive charm to her."

"Hey!" They heard the Latina shout. "Pick up the pace. You're like a couple of eighty year old women."

"I'm not sure I'd call it charm." Quinn said when Santana had stopped shouting at them.

* * *

After an hour of clothes shopping they'd separated into two groups. Brittany and Rachel had gone off to an appliance store to pick something up for the taller blondes Mom, and Quinn and Santana went to the salad bar to order the food.

"You want Berry to be initiated don't you?" The Latina asked once they'd sat down with their meals.

"Yes." Quinn nodded.

"Damn it. I bet you've already asked B haven't you?" The brunette asked folding her arms.

"Yes."

"And of course she agreed. She thinks the Dwarf is good for you."

"I think she's right."

"Yeah, me too I guess. You're happier, which is a really weird look for you by the way. But that probably has a lot to do with how much time you spend staring at her ass." Quinn snapped her head towards the other girl, but before she could say anything Santana continued. "Don't bother denying it, because if you do that'll make you a liar. And you know how much I hate liars."

"Fine, yes, I look occasionally."

"Hello there understatement."

"I can't help it; I have all these hormones flying around."

"You can't seriously blame the baby for making you gay for Berry. That is completely retarded."

Quinn stayed quiet for a moment as she processed what her friend had just said. Yes, she looks at Rachel in a way that probably isn't appropriate, but she must've looked at other people right? Except, she'd managed to keep sexual frustrations under control until about a week or so ago, and even then it was only one person that seemed to set it off. Shit. "Oh my God. I have a crush on Rachel!"

"Well, yeah. Duh." Santana snorted, and then frowned. "Are you just realizing this?"

"Yeah!" The blonde said. Her voice raising a few octaves.

"Dumbass." The brunette shook her head.

"Oh crap. I have a crush on Rachel." She repeated, putting her head in her hands.

"It's not that bad Q, calm down."

"How is it not that bad?" Quinn moved her hands away and glared at the brunette. "I've just moved into her house, I'm going to be seeing her all the time. This is your fault! If you hadn't said anything I would be completely oblivious to this. Now I'm going to be all weird around her and she's going to get all paranoid and think I don't like her."

"But you do like her."

"I know that!" Quinn shouted.

"Well don't be weird, just let yourself be affectionate with her. She'll probably like it."

"Is that how you and Brittany started?"

"Yeah." Santana shrugged. "Don't screw this up Fabray. As truly annoying as she is, you need her in your life."

"What if it becomes more than just a crush?"

Santana laughed mockingly. "This isn't a 'what if' situation."

"Fuck."

"Just go with it Quinn, seriously. Let the love in. Embrace the love. Accept love into your heart."

"You done?"

"Yeah, I can't think of anymore."

"Thank God. So, I should just go with it huh?"

"Yup. Just don't go too far when you feel her up. Unless she asks you to."

"I'll keep that in mind. Are you okay with this?"

"Hell yeah! It gives me more ammo to mock you with."

"Whoop-di-do." The blonde said rolling her eyes.

"Look, your girlfriend's on her way over here."

"Do not say anything to her." Quinn warned with a pointing finger.

Rachel came and sat next to her, while Brittany bypassed the table heading towards the bathroom, and Santana followed.

"So what did B get in the store?"

"She ordered a microwave to be delivered to her house." Rachel told her as Quinn pushed the salad she got for her across the table, and the Diva gave her a wide smile, "Thanks."

"You're welcome. How did it take you so long if all you were doing was ordering?"

"Brittany got distracted. There was a rubber duck in the window of some sort of toy store, but it was black and had crosses for eyes. Which as you know, is the universal sign of something being dead. She was quite upset." The Diva said as she opened up the plastic container. "I find her obsession with waterfowl very strange."

"Maybe. I find people who are obsessed with frogs strange. At least ducks are kinda cute."

"I suppose." The Diva said distractedly, and started to eat her salad.

* * *

Once the four girls had eaten, Santana led them to the large ball pit in the fast food place on the outskirts of the mall and if Quinn didn't know better, she'd think that the Latina was actually excited for what was about to happen. The three friends all had to go through the initiation, it wasn't dangerous and now as sixteen year olds it was pretty lame, but they had all decided when they were thirteen that if they were to let anyone else into their group that the potential new member had to go through the initiation. Now, three years later, they were finally about to let a fourth in. Santana was very picky.

The restaurant was full from the lunch time rush, and Quinn had to laugh at Rachel's look of utter horror when they walked in. The Diva's distaste of all fast food joints had been mentioned many, many times. Santana walked straight up to the pit and whispered something to the handful of kids who scrambled out quickly, and ran crying to their parents. The dark haired cheerleader turned to face her comrades with a triumphant smirk. "Okay Berry. It's time."

"Time? Time for what?" Rachel looked up at the blonde with a concerned expression.

"Well. We have, collectively," Quinn narrowed her eyes in the direction of Santana. "decided to invite you into our, uh…" The blonde scrunched up her face as she tried to best describe their friendship.

"Coven?" Brittany suggested.

"No B, that's not the right word."

"I don't know." Santana chuckled. "Some people might say that's exactly the right word for us. I like it; I think that's what we should call ourselves from now on."

"You want me to join your coven? You don't actually practice witchcraft do you? Because I'm not sure I have the disposition for that kind of religion."

"No Rach, ignore Santana. We just want to join our cheery little gang officially."

"Okay." The Diva sounded uncertain. "So what do I have to do?"

"You have to cross the rainbow river." Brittany told her with a confident smile.

"Huh?"

"Walk through the ball pit Berry. If you can that is, you  _are_  unnaturally tiny so might have to swim through it."

"What? I'm not going in there! Do you know what kind of disgusting organisms that thing probably has? I can almost guarantee children have soiled themselves whilst playing inside it."

"Hmm." Santana walked up to the Diva and pulled her away from Quinn's general area, and the pregnant girl frowned. She couldn't hear what the Latina was saying, and Rachel glanced in her direction occasionally looking absolutely petrified, and then she nodded.

The two brunettes walked back, one looking pleased with herself while the other looking like she was about to throw up. Rachel walked up to the edge of the pit and took several deep breaths. "I'm not taking my shoes off. I don't even want to think about what lies at the bottom of this."

"You don't have to take your shoes off Berry, so just do it."

"What did you just say? Did you threaten her?" Quinn asked as the three girls walked around the pit and watched as Rachel got up onto the stool and sat on the side. "Because, if something happens, the police know where you live."

"Shut up and watch the show."

The Diva gave them a dejected look as she jumped in and squealed the moment her feet hit the bottom. Quinn just about managed to keep her laughter under control, but it was difficult and there were two reasons why she didn't just let her amusement run free. The first being that although friends do find stuff like this funny, it doesn't do well when said friendship is only a week old and before friendship happened you ridiculed and insulted the now new friend. The second reason was that Rachel, being the drama queen she is, could possibly be on the verge of hysterics when she got out of the pit and the part of Quinn's brain that she had now named and basically given a personality of its own to, was more than happy to offer a little comfort to the Diva, without it becoming sexual harassment of course.

It took ten seconds for Rachel to make it across, and every second she expressed her dislike of the situation very vocally. When she got out on the other side Santana stepped forward. "You made it across. Well done Princess."

"Thank you," The Diva chuckled. "What do we do now?"

"We get to leave before the rent-a-cops come and ask for our names."

"I'm sure they already have yours." Rachel smirked as Brittany grabbed her hand and walked quickly out of the restaurant.

The pregnant girl gave Santana an inquiring look as they walked at a slower pace behind their friends. "Princess? That's a new one. I don't get it."

"You don't have to. Wanna go see a movie?"

"Nah. I'm tired; I just want to go back to Rachel's."

"Think she'll let me and B come to?"

"As long as you behave." The blonde grinned.

* * *

Quinn and Rachel were sharing Divine Snugglebottom and Lucas and Brittany were settled on the couch trying to watch a movie. However all they could hear was Santana and David arguing from the kitchen.

"Buffy!" That was the Latina.

"Angel." And that was Rachel's Dad.

"How? How can you say Angel is a superior show to Buffy? It's just wrong!"

The four girls had arrived at the Berry home an hour ago, and for forty five minutes of that the two of them had been arguing about the same thing. Quinn could tell that they were thoroughly enjoying this, Santana loved a good argument and it looked like David did too. But, arguing about a T.V show and its spin off for three quarters of an hour had definitely run its course, because now they were just yelling that the other was wrong.

"Next thing you'll be saying is Torchwood is better than Doctor Who."

"It is."

"The sacrilege." The horrified Latina shouted.

Quinn rolled her eyes and attempted to pay attention to the film, but Rachel had changed into a skirt after she had taken another shower as soon as she got home because she felt unclean from the initiation. The singer's legs were currently squashed up against hers and it was distracting.

One slushy had put into motion a chain of events that had completely opened up her way of thinking, her way of seeing things, and apparently her own sexuality. That damn beverage had a lot to answer for. And maybe she needed time to figure this out. What it means for their relationship, whether or not she should be open with Rachel about her infatuation, or wait, if Santana was right about it, until her feelings become more. But all of these thoughts had to be postponed until she went to bed and could think alone. For now she was going to continue watch Finding Nemo.

And Rachel's legs.

"Oh my gosh!" The Diva blurted.

"What?" Quinn prayed she hadn't been caught ogling.

"I forgot about the Glee assignment. I haven't even started it."

"Rachel Berry forgot about Glee? The world is going to end!"

"Shh. Me and Mr. Berry are watching a movie." Brittany whispered angrily.

The pregnant girl frowned at the cheerleader. "Sorry." She turned back to Rachel and shrugged. "Wanna go up to your room, and we can do it together?" Okay. So Charlie was still in control of the double entendre part of her brain.

"That's an excellent idea." Rachel jumped in the chair excitedly and immediately stilled when she was shushed by the tall blonde. "Sorry."

As the two girls walked upstairs they heard Brittany and Lucas both chant, "Sharkbait. Ooh ha ha." And from the kitchen, Santana and David were having a heated conversation about which CSI was the best.

"I love your dads, they're awesome." Quinn said as she sat on Rachel's bed, taking one of the stuffed toys from the headboard.

"Yes, I am aware." The brunette picked up her IPod and sat next to her, scrolling through her playlists. "Do you have any idea which song you'd like to do? What are you thankful for?"

"Bladder control."

"I'm not sure if there's a song that can do that particular subject justice. Anything else?"

"Comfortable shoes, tissues, thermos flasks and bacon."

Rachel stopped looking through her songs and quirked an eyebrow at the blonde. "I'm sure Mr. Schuester didn't have items that keep hot things hot and cold things cold in mind when he chose this assignment. You're being glib."

"True, but I'm very good at it."

"Yes you are. If it were an Olympic sport you'd have the gold."

"I'm going to take that as a compliment."

Rachel laughed. "Is there any other way to take it?"

"Nope. What about you? What will your song be about?"

"I'm thankful for a lot of things. My dads, you, Glee club, my health, my voice. But I really don't know what I'd like to sing about. There are still a couple of days to work on it, I'll think of something."

"Well, this has been productive." The blonde sighed falling back onto the bed. "Pass me one of those earphones, we'll listen to some music and see if we get inspired."

"Okay." Rachel handed her a bud and lay back next to her.

Quinn closed her eyes and listened to the song playing, it was slow, haunting, and possibly Japanese. And like many of the songs Rachel had on her IPod, she had never heard it before. She didn't need any inspiration, she had known exactly which song she was going to perform since Thursday. She just wanted to spend some alone time with the Diva. Realistically she knew now that she was living here that was going to happen anyway, but with her new feelings simmering on the surface she felt like she needed to see how it felt just being there, in the silence. They were lying close to each other, hands and shoulders touching, it was comfortable and exhilarating at the same time.

She'd never felt like this with Finn or Puck, and thinking about it, maybe it made sense. She knew that they were both very good looking boys, but she was only with Finn because as head cheerleader it was usually the expected thing to do to be with the football captain and Puck was a mistake of her own insecurities. So as confusing and complicated as her feelings for Rachel were, she felt like they were the right ones. Now all she had to do was figure out if she had a chance, and if she did then Jesse was her competition.

When something soft hit her in the face, she opened her eyes to see Santana smirking at her. "Stop throwing things at my head." She scowled.

"It's not like I'm hurling bricks at you. What kind of damage is a stuffed lamb going to do?"

"It's not about the damage, it's irritating."

"I don't really care." The Latina answered taking a seat on the bed.

"So, Santana." Rachel interrupted. "Have you and Dad finished your discussions?"

"Not a chance, we decided to call it quits for the day, and now you're one of us I can come over and finish it off another time. Regardless of his preference to spin offs, he's totally cool."

The Diva and Quinn exchanged a look and smiled at each other. "So I've been told."

"You know who he reminds me of? A nerdy Morpheus. How are you even spawned from him? It's mind boggling."

Brittany entered the room; red eyed, blowing her nose and plopped down next to Santana. "I love that movie. It always makes me happy when Nemo finds his dad." The tall blonde gave the girl next to her a smile when the dark haired cheerleader started stroking her hair. "Rachel's dads have asked if we want to stay for pizza San."

"Sounds good, if it's okay with you half pint."

"Of course."

The four of them stayed in Rachel's room, listening to music, laughing and talking about the Glee assignment for the next two hours. When Lucas called up to ask what everyone wanted for toppings, Quinn was the one who was sent down with the order. She walked into the kitchen and handed over the list to the smaller man, who went into the hallway to use the phone. David was sitting at the table going through some files and he looked up at her with a smile.

"You girls sound like you're having fun up there."

"Sorry. Are we disturbing you?"

"Lord no. It's the first time I've ever heard that sound coming from my daughter's room. I never thought the screech of hysterical teenage girls would make me happy. What's so funny anyway? Or don't I want to know."

"The boys from Glee have this thing going on where they kind of hijack one of the other Gleeks facebook and write something on their status update, usually disgusting and something their mothers wouldn't like. It's all very juvenile, but highly entertaining for the rest of us."

"I can tell." He nodded and leaned back in his chair. "I have to say, I was surprised that I like Santana, I didn't get a chance to talk to her yesterday, and after all that Rachel has told me about her in the past I was expecting something else. I should've known better. You pick your friends wisely young Grasshopper."

"That I do." She chuckled. "I can't say that they're friends now, but they seem to have bonded over yesterdays escapades and that's enough for Santana to have Rachel's back."

"Rachel will always be our baby and we can't always protect her. I'm glad she has the three of you now. It's quite a weight of our shoulders. You see, there is nothing you need to make up for."

"I appreciate you saying that, but I won't stop trying."

"Good answer. Okay, you should get back upstairs now." He said as he went back to his papers. "Pizza will probably be about half hour."

Quinn walked back into the bedroom and got back onto the bed next to Rachel. Brittany was playing with the lamb and the frog while Santana was on the other side of the Diva with the laptop.

"Apparently," The Latina said leaning forward to look at the blonde. "Finn and JewFro are now 'in a relationship' Ten bucks says that was Mike's handy work."

"Aww, I leave the room for five minutes and he broke up with Karofsky. That was a love of the ages."

Santana snorted. "It was destined to be doomed, like Romeo and Juliet. We can only hope they kill themselves."

"Santana!" Rachel scolded.

"Don't 'Santana' me. None of those guys have been particularly nice to you."

"Finn has."

"Yeah, when he wants something from you. Let's face it Berry, Finn Fucking Hudson is a selfish son of a bitch, and some people confuse his stupidity with sweetness. What was his reason for breaking up with you again?"

"He wanted to explore his inner rock star." The Diva mumbled. Quinn wanted to smack Santana for upsetting Rachel, but she also wanted to see where this was going.

"Yeah. Selfish. Finn couldn't be 'Rock star' if he tried. He's not only one of the most boring people on the face of the planet, and that by the way includes his so-called leading man quality, but he's cruel and vindictive, or as close to vindictive as someone with the IQ of a Poodle can get. Which is an insult to Poodles everywhere. And like an idiot you followed him around, hanging on his every, tedious, monosyllabic word. And I'm not saying this to insult you Rachel, I'm saying this because you deserve better than him. You deserve better than Jesse too. And hopefully one day you'll see that there is someone out there who won't treat you like a piece of shit on their boot that they can't quite scrape off. Someone who actually likes you for who you are."

Everyone stayed in stunned silence for a moment, and Brittany was the first to speak. "Wow S. That's the most amount of words you've ever said in one go." She furrowed her brow. "I didn't understand some of them, but it sounded epic."

"Thank you Santana." The singer smiled.

"Don't thank me. I didn't say it to make you feel good; I said it because I take every opportunity in life to insult Finn."

The pregnant girl took hold of Rachel's hand. She was feeling pretty smug. The Latina had basically told everyone she actually gives a damn about the singer, and said that no boy was good enough for her. Quinn had never though that hard about the tall boy before, she knew he irritated her but didn't know why, Santana's explanation seemed to fit perfectly, and maybe, hopefully, Rachel would take all of it on board.

The next twenty minutes was spent playing online games until the doorbell went indicating food had arrived, and once they were all seated around the kitchen table, the conversations started to flow. Quinn could feel the energy in the room, it was alive, it was that feeling that everything fitted together perfectly. These five people were all she needed, and she'd just realized it, the final piece of the puzzle had been set in place and the picture was finally complete.

She looked over to Rachel who was smiling at her, not her fake smile that she used on so many other people, but the smile that she'd only seen the Diva give her.

And at the moment Quinn knew that she was going to fall for this girl, and she was going to fall hard.

 


	9. Nine

As far as Sunday afternoons went, this was one of the better ones Quinn had in a long while. It wasn't that she was doing anything exciting, she was just happy.

She was currently lying on Rachel's bed, a hundred pages into one of the crappiest books she'd ever had the misfortune to pick up, and due to some weird compulsion, she had to finish it no matter how bad it was. She paused when she got to the end of the paragraph and looked up at the Diva who was sitting at the foot of the bed, tapping a pen against her teeth and starring at her homework.

"Having problems?" The blonde asked with a chuckle.

"No." Rachel said leaning back. "I'm almost done, just working out my conclusion. Which isn't as easy in Spanish." The brunette gave her a smile, then it disappeared quickly and she furrowed her brow. "Santana and Brittany will be here soon, I should try and finish it by then. Santana can be quite a distraction."

"Don't worry. You'll learn to drown her out when you need to. She has a tendency to yammer on like a mean, cantankerous old lady sometimes, I dread to think what she'll be like when she actually gets old."

"She might mellow out. Being a teenager is a very confusing and emotionally volatile time in your life, there's a good chance once her body has settled, she'll be a relatively normal person."

"Maybe, but I don't think the snark will ever go away. Anyway, finish your Spanish. I've got a shitty book to try and wade through before they get here."

Rachel chuckled. "Okay. Good luck."

"Thanks."

She turned the page of her book, and couldn't remember if she'd actually finished the last page. Not that it really mattered with this tripe; she realized early on that she could skip whole paragraphs without missing anything. She also learned that changing the main characters names to Butt-Breath and Poo-Head made it all the more entertaining. She was easily amused that way. However it was difficult concentrating on something she didn't care about, when something she did care about was sitting in front of her. She continued to hold up the book as she sneaked a look at the other girl.

After yesterday's realization, her brain had gone into voyeuristic overdrive. Every opportunity she had, she would watch the other girl. At first she had whole conversations with herself about how weird and perverted she was being, then she would counter argue that with 'boys do it all the time'. There were many internal discussions about whether she was gay, because she had no indication until now that she was, but then there was no real reason to think she was straight either.

That was yesterday though and when she'd woken up this morning, after having a very R rated dream about Rachel, she figured she might as well just let Charlie off his leash because there was clearly no controlling him. Of course now he was swaggering around like he owned the place, so she decided to give him the official title of Mayor Charlie of Naughty-Thought-Ville. She'd probably put too much thought into that, but she'd kind of grown fond of the little bastard.

The problem with letting him run riot inside her brain was that she was now constantly frustrated. And the fact that she'd been starring at Rachel's chest for the last minute was a clear indication of that. She thumped the book she'd been pretending to read against her head a few times, hoping that might knock some self control into her, but all that happened was that she drew Rachel's attention and before the Diva had a chance to question the reason for her literary assault, the doorbell went.

"I'll get it." She said jumping off the bed, thankful for the distraction. She gave Rachel a smile as she left the room, and headed downstairs.

"You know what pisses me off?" Santana grumbled as soon as Quinn opened the front door.

"Lots of things." The pregnant girl answered moving out of the way so the two cheerleaders could come in.

"The fact that I actually want to be here. Worse. I woke up this morning and I was like 'I can't wait to go to Berry's house' I was here yesterday for  _seven hours_. This is wrong." The Latina frowned and looked over to David, who was leaning against the kitchen doorway with a smug smile. "I blame you." She pointed at him.

"Not my fault." He said throwing his hands up defensively.

"Yeah okay." Santana shrugged and turned her attention back to Quinn. "We saw the stupidest thing on the way here. We got stuck behind a bus, and there was a sign on the back of it that said 'Do Not Attempt To Ride The Back Of This Bus' Makes you wonder who the idiots are that have made them put that on there."

"Wanna bet Puck was one of them?" Quinn asked.

"Likely." The Latina said scanning the general area. "So where's Chiquita?"

"She's in her room."

"Well come on then." Santana said bounding up the stairs, followed by the taller blonde.

Quinn glanced over to David and shook her head with an exasperated sigh. "She seems particularly rambunctious today."

"Aww. Leave her alone, she excited to be here."

"I suppose. I don't blame her really. This house and the people in it, have a way of making you feel all warm and safe. A bit like being wrapped up in a soft blanket next to an open fire, in the middle of winter." She paused for a moment. "And apparently, I've turned into a walking Hallmark card. This baby has made me into a sap." She said rubbing her bump.

"I don't care. It was still very sweet of you to say it, and I'm going to hug you now." He said wrapping his arms around her.

"Okay."

When she got back to the bedroom, Santana was looking at Rachel's homework and bobbing her head approvingly. "This is good Berry. Not the content, that's pretty boring, but you know, the rest." The Latina faced Quinn and gave her an unnerving smile. "Hey Q, turns out, Berry is a cunning linguist. Who'd have thought!"

The pregnant girl glared at her friend, hoping Rachel didn't understand what had been said, or at least why it was apparently of interest to Quinn. "That's great," She said climbing onto the bed. "Have we decided what our plans are today?"

"I say we build a fort and have sword fights." Santana offered.

"You didn't smuggle in that damn katana of yours did you?"

"Don't be an idiot Fabray. If I were going to attack anyone with an actual sword, there are plenty of people much higher on my list than anyone in this house."

"I had to ask." Quinn shrugged. "Anyway, I'm going to vote no to acting like a ten year old boy."

"As apposed to acting like a fourteen year old boy?"

"I do not."

"Do to."

"Do not."

"You do so. What's that burning smell? Your pants on fire!" The Latina shouted, pointing emphatically at Quinn.

"Why do I feel like I'm missing something vitally important?" Rachel asked the taller blonde next to her.

"Welcome to my world." Brittany sighed, then threw a stuffed toy at the two arguing girls. "Stop it. I want to have fun today, and watching you fight is boring. Me and Rachel will find something to do on our own if you can't keep a lid on it."

Quinn and Santana stopped and gave each other a look.

"Like what? Make out or something?" The taller brunette asked suspiciously.

"No, no, no, no." Rachel waved her hands in front of her, shaking her head.

"Why not?" The Latina barked. "What's so bad about the idea of making out with B?"

"Mostly because I'm afraid you'd hurt me."

"Oh. Okay." Santana calmed. "What if I wasn't a factor? Would you then?"

"This is a very awkward thing to be discussing. Brittany is sitting right next to me."

"Fine. How about we say in general. Would you kiss a girl?"

"I can't say outright yes or no. It would depend on many things."

"Like what?"

"Not being unpleasant to me would be a start. And let's be honest, that rules out about ninety nine point nine percent of the McKinley High population."

"So that leaves the three of us, and Becky."

"It would appear so."

"Okay, we'll take Becky out of the equation, for obvious reasons."

"Why?" Brittany snapped. Quinn rarely saw the other blonde angry at anything, especially Santana, but there were certain buttons that needed to be pressed for it to happen, and Latina just pushed it.

"You know why. Don't make me say it out loud."

Brittany folded her arms over her chest and raised her eyebrows. "I want to hear your reasons."

"Because," Santana said deflating. "she has the mental age of a nine year old. That's why. Added to that she's about the same height as one too, it would be like some sort of pedophilia."

"That wasn't as mean as I thought you were going to be." Brittany relaxed. "That made sense. Sorry San."

"That's okay." The Latina smiled, then turned back to Rachel. "So anyway, Berry, back to the girl kissing. If they were nice, and at least mildly attractive, would you make out with them?"

"Just being nice isn't enough, they have to actually like me."

"Alright." Santana inhaled deeply. "Say there was a girl, who was at least mildly attractive, and she actually liked you, would you make out them?"

"Define 'Mildly attractive'"

"Attractive, but maybe a bit on the tubby side. You know, for instance." The Latina gave Quinn a sideways glance.

"In that case, I would say yes."

The ex Cheerio coughed to hide her smile, but that didn't stop Santana from snorting a laugh.

"Okay Pumpkin. This could've been a ten second conversation. Was that so hard to admit?"

"I never said it would be. No one has ever asked me before."

"That's because you only seem to go all crazy-obsessive over boys who aren't good enough for you."

Quinn snapped her head towards the Latina. Sometimes she couldn't tell if her friend was being snide or genuine, because the tone was pretty much the same either way. This time, it seemed she was being serious. Then she looked at Rachel expecting to see a hurt look, or maybe a defiant one, but all she saw was embarrassed acknowledgement.

"Now that we've got that, absolutely fascinating conversation out of the way. How about we decide what the hell to do?"

* * *

There was a very lengthy debate over what activity they should do for the afternoon. Santana wanted to go paintballing, but Rachel went onto the website and saw that they didn't let pregnant women play, much to relief of Quinn. Rachel suggested a museum, and the three other girls rejected that outright, but the pregnant girl was very apologetic about it. Quinn's contribution was the carnival in the next town, and was surprised when Santana said no, in no uncertain terms. Then she remembered that the Latina had an incident involving a corn dog, or what she thought was a corn dog, a couple of years ago, and refused to go to any carnival ever again. Things were looking up when Brittany suggested they go swimming, then Quinn saw the bikini the Diva was going to wear and feigned cramps.

An hour later they were still on the bed, and none of them seemed to mind. When her phone rang, Quinn smiled at seeing the caller ID.

" _Hey Baby Mama, whatcha up to?"_

"Nothing, just hanging out."

" _Nice. Can't beat some chillaxing."_

"That's not a word Puck."

" _Whatever. Not why I'm calling."_

"You mean you didn't phone me up to discuss words that only exist on Urban Dictionary? Damn, that was something I was looking forward to." She smiled at the stifled chuckles coming from her friends.

" _The bigger you get, the more sarcastic you are."_

"The bigger I get?"

" _No! I meant the bigger the baby gets, not you."_

"What the hell are you trying to say?" She barked. "Hmm? You think I'm fat do you?"

" _I'm hanging up now."_

When she heard the silence on the other end, she looked up to see some very nervous facial expressions. "He's fun to panic." She explained.

"Ah!" Santana said knowingly.

A minute later her phone rang again.

" _Hey Baby Mama, whatcha up to?"_

"Nothing, just hanging out."

" _That's good. You should relax when you have the chance, because you are carrying our… Nuh uh, I'm not saying that… Fine… Our wonderful child. And you are beautiful like the Goddess… Who? Oh right… Aphrodite."_

"Who the hell are you talking to?"

" _Maya. Basically Q, my brat sister wants to know if she can come over to play… What?... She says not play, because she's almost twelve. Like that makes a difference."_

"Uh, hang on Puck." She moved the phone away from her ear. "Maya wants to come over. Do you guys mind?" She asked the three other girls.

"I vote yes." Rachel said putting her hand up.

"Me too." Brittany copied the Diva.

"I don't have a problem, but she might when she finds out that I'm here." Santana grimaced.

Quinn put the phone back to her ear. "Puck? Ask Maya if she cares that S is here."

There was a few seconds of muffled chatter, before she heard his voice.  _"No."_

"Okay, cool. Come over when you like."

" _Awesome. See you in ten."_

When she hung up, it didn't take long for Rachel to ask the question, "Why would Maya have any kind of grievance with you? She seemed fine when we were over there Friday. Did you do something in the last forty four hours?"

"No." Santana huffed. "It was a slight misunderstanding on her birthday last year. And I don't know why I got the blame? It was clearly the bakery's fault."

"What happened?"

"Puck's Mom sent Santana to pick up the birthday cake." Quinn told the tiny brunette with a grin. "When she came back, Ruth opened the box and screamed. Actually screamed. It was freaking hysterical."

"But why?"

"They'd given her the wrong cake. It was actually a cake in the shape of a naked lady. Hot damn if that wasn't the best slice of cake I ever had."

"I forgot about that. As I recall Juno, you were only interested in the boobs part. Ooh, foreshadowing."

"Shut up."

"You shut up."

Rachel handed Brittany two stuffed toys, and the blonde hurled them at Quinn and Santana. When they stopped, she looked pleased as punch.

"Rach, I think we've found a way of making them  _both_  shut up." The taller blonde smiled.

"I don't think I have enough toys for that. Where would I put them when we're not in my room?"

"I don't know. Maybe you could have those belt things that soldiers have, full of ammo, but they wouldn't be bullets, they'd be little stuffed animals."

"Would that be enough?"

"You're right. Maybe you should have a whole dress full of stuffed toys."

"I can't see that happening any time soon."

"Okay, we get it." Santana rolled her eyes. "We'll try and cool down the bickering, won't we Quinn?"

"Yes, we are very sorry." The pregnant girl deadpanned.

The four of them headed downstairs to wait for Puck and Maya to come over, and there had been a small 'pregnant moment' when Santana sat on Divine, and Quinn found herself hitting the Latina with a cushion when she refused to get out of it. Then hit her even harder when the other girl laughed. If she'd thought about it, she would've realized why Santana was finding it funny, and later her friend would tell her that it was because she shouted "Get out of  _our_  chair." But she was being far too emotional to notice what she was saying in her cushion frenzy attack.

True to his word Puck arrived several minutes later. He'd already taken his sister to the synagogue and Quinn guessed that he was delaying going back home to avoid his Mom. That and she'd asked him to help with her song for the Glee assignment tomorrow, and he needed to pick up the sheet music. Typically for him, he left it for as long as he possibly could.

She had forgotten that Puck had actually been here before while he briefly dated Rachel, and even as she thought that, in her head she gritted her teeth. What she was surprised at was the way he spoke to Lucas when the boy introduced Maya to the man. He was full of 'Yes Sir's' and 'Thank you Sir's' it freaked her out to see him so respectful. And once they were out of earshot of the man he told her that the guy is like a Jewish elder, and if his Mom found out that he wasn't polite, she'd kill him.

Once they were all in the den Brittany decided they should watch a DVD and picked out Superman because she likes the aesthetic of blue, red and yellow together. And the theme tune. However when it started, it didn't look or sound anything like the film and no one had seen Rachel move so quickly in their lives as she went to stop the player.

Puck, who was sitting on the floor in front of the couch, frowned in confusion at the speed at which the Diva moved. "Hey Rachel, was that your Superman porn or something?" And he received smacked on the head from Maya, Santana and Brittany in response,

"No!" Rachel shouted with indignation. "My Dad owns quite a lot of movies that may be considered some of the worst films in history. This is, Superman: The musical. When I was ten I found this," She shook the case angrily. "and I thought it would be the best thing I'd ever seen. I was utterly disappointed. And more than a little confused."

"What else has he got?" Santana asked with some restrained excitement.

"We are not watching atrocious films Santana."

"Oh come on Berry. Its tons more fun when there's more of you to mock the hell out of it."

"No. That's the end of it. If you want to watch a film, then choose something from this area." The smaller brunette gestured to the right side of the entertainment unit.

"Fine." The Latina huffed. "But I can't watch a normal movie right now. I'm not feeling it as a particularly riveting source of entertainment. So can I bring my Xbox in? I have it in the car."

"Uh, okay. Why did you bring your games console?"

"In case of emergencies." Santana said jumping off the couch and running out of the room.

"I hadn't realized there was such a thing as an Xbox emergency." Rachel frowned, looking slightly bewildered at everyone in the room.

"Dude, you gotta have an emergency Xbox kit." Puck grinned. "It's like, the law. Just like emergency beer kit and a stash of peanut M&M's for when you get the munchies."

"But not a spare condom apparently." Maya said.

Puck spun his head around to see his little sister smirking at him and he scowled. "You think you're so funny don't you?"

"Yeah."

The two of them continued to bicker and Quinn knew that it was all hot air when Puck and Maya argued. With their Mom an emotional mess, they basically had to look after each other, and their relationship reminded her of her and her sisters' relationship, and while she watched them she smiled. When Maya looked over to her she gave the girl a quick wink, and then got distracted when Rachel sat next to her.

"You okay?" The Diva whispered. "You look kind of sad."

"Yeah, just thinking about Cassie"

"Your sister?"

"Yeah."

"I'm sorry."

"Why are you sorry? You have nothing to be sorry for."

Rachel shrugged and laughed. "I know. I just don't like seeing you sad."

"Well," Quinn leaned back and put her arm around the brunette's shoulders, bringing her in closer. "For the most part, that really isn't something you're going to have to worry about. But being seven months pregnant is going to affect me from time to time."

"Okay." Rachel snuggled into her. "But if it is bad, you have to tell me. I'm not sure how I'll be able to help, but I'll try."

"Puckerman!" All eyes went to Santana, who was standing in the doorway with her arms full. "Get your ass off the floor and give me a hand setting this up."

Even though Rachel had never owned, or played any kind of computer game, she was still kicking everyone's asses at a fighting game, and Quinn could see what her secret of triumph was. Basically, the Diva was of the school of five year olds, and was smashing the buttons together, hoping for the best. It was really working out for her, or at least it was until Santana got all huffy because she was losing to luck rather than skill, and banned the Diva from playing anymore.

"You can't just ban me, simply because you don't like losing Santana."

"I'm fine with losing Berry." The Latina said turning around from her position on the floor to face Rachel. "I just don't like losing to someone who keeps doing the same paralyzing move, over and over again. That is tantamount to cheating."

"It's the only action I know how to do!"

"Well, until you learn more, you're still banned."

Rachel frowned and shook her head in confusion. "How can I learn if you won't let me play?"

"That's for you to work out. Now hand the controller over to Maya." Santana said with a curt nod, and sat back on the floor pillow.

The smaller brunette rolled her eyes, and passed it over to Brittany, to give to the younger Puckerman, then tucked herself back into Quinn's arm. "I think I'm growing on her." Rachel whispered. "She hasn't threatened me with violence all day."

"It's an honest to God miracle! Praise be."

"You know, you two aren't as quiet as you think you are." Santana said, hurling a rolled up piece of paper behind her and hitting Quinn square in the forehead.

* * *

After much nagging from Rachel, Santana caved, withdrawing the ban of the game and had taught the Diva some new moves. They had started a best out of three about an hour ago, and as far as Quinn was aware, that was still going on.

She and Maya had left the chaos of the den to go upstairs to her room because Maya said she wanted to discuss something with her, which made Quinn nervous, her mind went straight to something bad. What kind of bad she wasn't sure; she couldn't really remember what stuff was important and scary at the age of eleven.

"Is everything alright?" Quinn asked taking a seat on her bed.

"I just wanted us to hang out on our own. Is that okay?" Maya said, giving her a nervous smile as she sat next to her.

The blonde relaxed. "Of course it is. I don't think the others will notice us gone us for a while."

"Probably not. Rachel and Santana are too busy shouting at each other. Is that normal for them?"

"It's hard to say definitively, there really is no baseline of normal for them yet. If you take into account the past behavior then I suppose yes, as far as Santana's concerned. She did have a tendency to lunge at Rachel whenever she said something Santana didn't like. But then lots of people say things that Santana doesn't like. As far as I can remember though, Rachel has never shouted back, until today, and surprisingly Santana isn't trying to kill her for it, at least in real life anyway. There's a chance for friendship between them yet. That would make my life a hell of a lot easier."

"Yes or no would've been fine."

"Sorry." Quinn laughed. "I had a train of thought and went with it."

"That's okay." Maya said giving her a toothy grin.

"So how are things with me gone?" The blonde asked, changing the subject. "Miss me? Bet you do."

"Yeah, like a loch in kop. I think Noah misses you, when I asked him if he'd bring me here, he looked kind of excited. He likes to make sure you and the baby are okay."

"He has a weird way of showing it." Quinn said doubtfully.

"He's a boy." The young girl replied matter-of-factly.

"Yeah, they are emotionally retarded as a rule." The blonde agreed.

"He has nothing to worry about now you're here. You actually have that glowing thing pregnant woman are supposed to have now. I heard Dad say, just before he left for the last time, that our house sucks out all the joy of life. I didn't understand what he meant then, but I do now, and that isn't a good place for someone carrying another life inside them."

Quinn put her arm around Maya's shoulder gently and pulled her into a hug. "Even though you won't admit to missing me, I miss you. Do you think your Mom would allow you to come over couple of times a week? I mean how else am I going to keep up to date with the weekly antics of your classmates? I like to see my friends often, and you are one of them."

"I'm sure she won't mind me coming over."

The two of them continued to talk about anything and everything for a while longer, until Puck came upstairs and disturbed them. He hovered by the doorway and gave them a nod.

"Hey Q, you got that sheet music?"

"Yeah." She said moving from the bed and went to her dresser, pulling out the piece of paper from a drawer. "You coming in?"

"No." He shook his head emphatically. "Been told 'no boys allowed' and I ain't going to anger Mr. B."

"Fair enough." She chuckled, handing him the music. "Are they still playing?"

"Yeah, it's on the last leg now though. You should come back down, it's pretty fun."

"Maybe in a minute." She said nonchalantly, sitting back down next to Maya.

"The other Mr. B is pulling out brownies from the oven."

Quinn snapped her head towards the younger Puckerman, and gave her an excited look. "Brownies!" She shouted happily.

Maya laughed and stood up, moving towards her brother and held his hand. "She likes brownies."

"You think?" He asked, giving his sister an uncharacteristically soft smile.

Quinn ran downstairs and into the kitchen, stopping abruptly at the breakfast bar. "I hear there are brownies." She said to David.

"There are. Here," He handed over two plates. "take them into the den and feed the masses."

"So, one plate for me, and one for everyone else?"

The man laughed heartily. "Yup."

"Awesome." She took the chocolate confections into the room, putting one dish on the coffee table, and keeping the other one as she sat on Divine next to Rachel, who had the face of utter concentration. Eyes wide and unblinking, and her tongue sticking out. Quinn glanced at the TV watching the two characters fighting until she picked up a generous sized square of yummy gooeyness, and bit into it, humming happily as she chewed.

She was interrupted by the whole room yelling, and she looked around confused at the mass of faces that ranged from ecstatic to pissed off. "What just happened?" She asked Puck.

"Rachel just crushed S."

"Okay." She said, waiting for something more to be said, and when nothing seemed forthcoming, she asked, "So why is everyone excited?"

"Because." The Diva started, relaxing in the chair, "Now Santana has to perform the dare that we were playing for."

"Really?" Quinn smirked at the Latina. "And what is that?"

"She had two choices. Either she calls me by my name all next week, or, she dresses as a chicken for the whole day tomorrow." The Diva said the last few words with the crack of laughter.

"I went with the hardest one of calling her by her name." Santana growled. "But heed my warning midget, if you go too far with the gloating, you will pay."

"Okay." Rachel grinned.

Once everyone had noticed the brownies on the table, it took all of five minutes for the plate to be cleared, and with the game finally over, normal conversations resumed. Quinn and Rachel were still snuggled together, and the blonde had started playing with the Diva's hair, remembering the words that Santana had said yesterday about being affectionate, and the smaller girl next to her didn't seem to be averse to it.

"Rach?" She said quietly.

"Mmm hmm." The brunette responded leaning into the hand that had stopped twirling her hair.

Quinn smiled, and resumed playing with the soft hair. "I was wondering if you would come with me to my first antenatal class on Friday. I'd like you to be my birth partner."

Rachel turned to face her, her face bright, like a child who had opened the best birthday present ever. "Really? I would be honored Quinn."

The pregnant girl pulled her back in. "Good."

Logically, Rachel was the perfect person to ask. She's so anally retentive the whole experience of giving birth would be done with military precision, which is too much to expect from Puck. He's too irresponsible for this, there's no way he could support her emotionally and Rachel had already showed her that she was as sturdy as a rock. She never actually considered the boy, even before her friendship with Rachel, Santana was her first choice, for much the same reason as why she chose the Diva, but with added aggression.

Even though she still planned on giving the baby up, maybe she chose Rachel now because the Berry's were as close to the perfect family as you could get. It wasn't like she hadn't thought about it over the last few days. How things might be if she kept her. She could see the Diva as a very doting parent, and David and Lucas as two Grandparents who would spoil Baby rotten, but would probably not like being called Gramps or something else that implied they were old enough to have a pseudo grandchild. And then there were her other friends from school. All these Aunt's and Uncle's she could persuade to babysit, and who could help teach all the important life lessons. It is said that it takes a village to raise a child, except she didn't have a village, she had a Glee club.

She still had two months to figure things out, so perhaps it wouldn't hurt to hold onto the fantasy of having a family with Rachel for a little while longer.

 


	10. Ten

Santana was jolted into consciousness Monday morning by the sound of her alarm clock going off. She fumbled around her nightstand, banging the general area of where the offending time piece was, and when she found it, she threw it across the room where it still continued to alert her that it was time to wake up. She groaned as she threw her blankets back and swung her legs from the bed, getting up to turn the damn thing off, and with eyes still mostly closed, moved to the other side of the room and picked up the clock, which her sister had to regularly cover in bubble wrap because the Latina has had a tendency to hurl her alarms since puberty hit. She was not the brightest of people when just waking up. In disposition and intelligence, especially, like today, when she hadn't had enough sleep. She growled at the clock and shook it, then eventually remembered that she had to press a button to make it be quiet. When the silence came she sighed and plodded to the bathroom to carry out her morning hygiene routine.

After having her shower she left the room and mumbled a "Morning" at her sister as they passed each other while she made her way back to her bedroom and once inside she collapsed on the bed for a few minutes until she felt she was awake enough to use her hairdryer. Otherwise, God knows what would happen. By the time she'd got downstairs and had poured herself some orange juice and a bowl of cereal she was mostly awake, but still pretty grumpy, then she went into the living room, turned the TV on, going straight to the News channel, opened up her laptop to check over her homework that she'd stayed up until one in the morning doing, and satisfied that it was at least adequate, she printed it off.

When she checked her emails her inbox was fuller than usual, and apart from the one she had most days about granny porn, they were all from her Glee-mates, well, seven of them. She'd manage to convince a large portion of them to not take this last Glee assignment seriously, all except Jesse and Finn agreed. Quinn and Rachel she didn't ask. When her pregnant friend had made her listen to the song she was going to perform today, she outwardly gagged, but inside she was all 'Awww.' it was obviously about Rachel, and very fitting. So Santana decided to convince the group to do idiotic songs, not that the Diva wouldn't get that Quinn's song was about her, but just to make sure, why not make the rest of the songs sound completely ridiculous. But if it could fit into a general thankful theme, then all the better. The emails she'd received were their song choices and they seemed to have entered into the spirit of it. Today was going to be fun.

From the kitchen she could hear Izzy having a very one sided conversation with their cat about how much food he eats, then a thud sound, followed by "You little bugger." Her sister was especially British first thing in the morning.

She gave a small snort and relaxed, turning her attention to the TV. Sometimes she would try and put something on that wasn't News, because it was always the same old story. Bad stuff, followed by more bad stuff, with the occasional lighthearted piece about a parrot rescuing its owner from a burglar or something, but that was rare, and the parrot usually died. The problem was, whenever she changed the channel to something more entertaining, Izzy would just change it back to News.

Adults. Why did they feel the need to keep themselves informed of world events?

"Morning Ana. I haven't seen you in days."

Santana looked over at her sister who had just sat down next to her, and was nursing a cup of coffee. "Been at Rachel's."

"Berry's?" Izzy asked, confused.

"Yeah. Quinn's living there now. Didn't I mention that I'd helped her move? Again."

"You didn't, no. Did the Puckerman's throw her out or something?"

"Nothing like that. Rachel wants to take care of her; Quinn wants to be taken care of by her. It's pretty symbiotic."

"Is something going on between them?"

Santana laughed. "Not yet. But if I have anything to do with it, there will be. I'm going bring them together in perfect, loving union. Even if it kills me."

"Well alright then. Glad you've got yourself a hobby."

"Mmm." Santana said distractedly as she put a bid on an eBay item. "I have to do it. If left to her own devices, Quinn'll just moon over the girl until it's too late. And the next thing you know, they're in the ever dreaded 'friend zone' and that'll be a giant waste. Seriously, the next time you see them, look at how cute they are together. They're meant to be."

"I'll take your word for it." Izzy said dubiously. "I try not to get involved in high school escapades. You teenagers are bloody crazy." The older sibling said taking a sip of her coffee. "By the way, Dad asked if we were going to his birthday party this week."

"Did you tell him 'No fuck off, go celebrate with your other family you abandoning son of a bitch, I'm glad you're getting older, it means you're closer to death.'"

"If by that you mean 'Sure we'll pop in for an hour.' Then yeah."

"I'm not going. You can't make me." Santana said crossing her arms.

"I can." Izzy stated, arching an eyebrow.

"No you can't. You're not the boss of me."

"Yes I am. I have legal documentation that says so." The older sibling said with a brief smirk, then sighed. "Look, we won't stay long. Just enough to show our faces, say hello to the other family who we don't really care about, then we can go do something. Just us. Like we always do."

Santana hated when her sister used reasoning on her. It was so hard to fight. "Yeah, okay." She mumbled.

"Thanks." Izzy said, putting her mug down on the table and leaned over to the young Latina to kiss her on top of the head.

"Yeah, yeah." She said with a dismissive flourish of her hand.

When the wind chimes jingled indicating the back door had been opened, Izzy got up, and a few seconds later Brittany walked into the room, taking a seat next to the Latina. This was another of the morning routines. The blonde would walk in at twenty five to eight every school morning, sometimes weekends if she forgot, and Izzy would make her a cup of sweet tea. This had been happening since they were twelve and Brittany's Mom first let her walk the couple of streets to their house on her own.

"Do you know what song we're singing today? I was thinking we do Dancing Queen or Take A Chance On Me."

"Been watching Mamma Mia again B?"

"Yeah. How did you know? We could do Thank You For The Music. That's ABBA too, and it's about being thankful." The blonde paused for a moment. "For the music. And we're in Glee, that's all about music. Are we doing that?"

Santana hadn't really thought about what song they were going to do. She did think about something with lots of swear words, but Mr. Schuester would have that annoying disappointed face, and then lecture her for an hour. But Brittany being excited about the song pretty much made up her mind, and it is a catchy song. Why didn't they do ABBA in Glee? Those Swedes know how to compose a happy pop song. "Yeah B, we're doing that."

"Awesome!"

Izzy walked back in with a Kermit the Frog cup and handed it over to the blonde. "There you go Brittany."

"Thanks."

"So I have a question." The older sister said as she sat back down. "At what point do you think Quinn'll be too pregnant to play that stupid named gamed you three play?"

"While Rachel is jumping around, cheering her on? Who knows!"

"Well if Rachel's in your circle of friends now, why don't you think about training her up for a replacement?"

"That'd be fun S, we've never played with four and playing with two sucks."

"Yeah. I'll ask her later. Why are you taking such an interest anyway?"

"You're my little sister, I care."

"Oh, I get it. You like having the house to yourself for an hour before you leave for work."

"I have to deal with teenagers all day, so what if I want some alone time? Plus I've got used to you not being here for that hour now."

"You're the fool who chose to be a teacher. At my school." Santana added with a scowl.

"I'd say it's to keep an eye on you and make sure you don't get up to mischief. But honestly I don't care. There of plenty of responsible adults at the school to do that."

"Since when? They can be worse than the students."

"Hmm. You have mentioned that Will Schuester can be inappropriate sometimes. Maybe I should come in as co-director of that No Directions of yours."

"Don't you dare!" Santana warned.

"Is that what we're called now?" Brittany asked with a confused look. "I liked our other name better."

"Don't listen to Isobel, she made a joke but forgot the funny." Santana stood up, throwing her bag over her shoulder and putting her sub-par homework inside. "You ready B?"

"Yeah."

"See you at school Miss Lopez." Her sister said with a grin.

"Yeah." The young Latina replied and stuck out her tongue.

They got to school a little later than normal because she was still tired and had to stop on the way to get some Red Bull. By the time they arrived at the gym, the two other girls were already there waiting.

When Quinn started hanging out with Rachel she thought the smaller blonde had totally lost her mind. Stuff like that happened to pregnant women all time. But it didn't take long for her to realize that Quinn was happy when she was with Diva, and if that was the case, then she would have to ease up on her abuse on the smaller brunette. However, what she hadn't counted on was that spending time with the little one would affect her too. She wasn't sure what confused her more, the fact that her urge to punch Rachel in the face repeatedly seemed to have completely disappeared, or that she actually liked spending time with the tiny mental case.

She tried to suppress a smile at the sight of the two of them holding hands, but failed, and had to make it look like smirk when they saw her and Brittany walk in.

"Ladies." She acknowledged as she put he bag on the floor, pulled out one of the energy drinks and cracked it open. She downed the entire contents in one go, then belched long and loud. "Uch, tastes like feet." She said pulling a face.

"You're going to regret drinking that." Quinn said with a laugh. "You do remember what that stuff does to you right? It's like crazy-anxiety in can."

"I'm sure I'll be fine."

"Famous last words."

"Whatever Juno." She turned to face the Diva. "Rachel. How do you feel about learning to play this game?"

"I would love to. I still have no idea what's going on. Every time I think I have it figured out, someone does something to abolish my theories. I was hoping someone would explain the rules of play to me, because it does look like a lot of fun. Quinn? Do you mind?"

"No. More the merrier."

"B will teach you. Of all of us she has the best understanding of it." Santana looked at Rachel expectantly. "Go on then." And the Diva beamed at her, jumped up and bounded over to Brittany. Santana took a seat next to Quinn, and watched the two girls.

Both Quinn and Rachel seemed different now, and even though she wasn't prone to romanticizing things, the only reason she could come up with was that they complimented each other. They brought out all the positive attributes of each others personalities, and quashed the negative ones. That was probably one of the signs of soul mates right? Well, no matter what it was, they were both fun to be around now.

She straightened up and turned her attention to her pregnant friend. "So I've decided to change Finn's name to Fudson."

"Why?" Quinn asked with amusement.

"So the rhyme works."

"What rhyme?"

"I am a little brain cell, I live in Fudson's head. It's so dark and lonely here, coz all my friends are dead."

"That's a bit harsh don't you think?" Quinn asked, but the chuckle betrayed her words.

"Not really. I can think of meaner things to say than that."

"I know you can. Why the sudden verbal dislike of him anyway?"

"Why not? He's an asshole. Think about how he's treated Rachel. I can't decide whether he actually likes her but is so caught up in how he's perceived by the popular boys he doesn't really want to be seen with her too often. Or, he just likes having his very own fangirl around. Why aren't you being more unpleasant towards him? Is it because you still feel guilty about the lying to him for month's thing? He's still sniffing around her you know? You really want him to have more of a chance with her than you when the whole Jesse thing comes to an end? Which it will. And whose shoulder do you want her crying on huh? Yours or his? If you want to get the girl then you need to step it up bitch. Because in ten years when you've both finished college and have sorted out your respective careers and such, you'll get married and I'll be your best man and it'll be awesome. What do you think about that?"

"O-Kay." Quinn said slowly. "I told you it was a bad idea drinking the whole can of Red Bull."

"You told me it was a bad idea,  _after_  I'd drunk it. So yeah, thanks for that hindsight girl."

"You're welcome."

Santana was silent for a few seconds as her brain decided which one of the many, many thoughts that were going through her head she was going to say out loud. "I got another rhyme: There was a young girl named Fabray, who had an unfortunate roll in the hay. She got totally pregnant… And I can't think of a rhyme for that. And now she's in love with a dwarf."

"Kind of fell apart there at the end."

"Little bit, yeah."

When Rachel and Brittany came over taking a seat on the bench in front of them, Santana stared at them a moment before speaking. "Don't tell me you've learned it already?" She asked with some skepticism. "It's been like, a minute."

"A minute is all I needed." Rachel said smiling. "I feel like I've finally been told the meaning of life."

Quinn laughed. "The meaning of life is an elaborate game of catch we made up? Holy crap, we're good."

"Hell yeah!" The Latina shouted. "You know what we should do now? Start a cult based on the game, and preach to all the gullible sheep out there and persuade them to give us all their money."

"Oh good lord." The pregnant blonde exhaled. "It's going to be a _long_ day."

"Probably." Santana agreed.

* * *

For a large part of the morning, Santana mostly just dipped in and out of what was going on. Thankfully she was set in a routine so she could easily go through the motions. During her daily meeting with Coach Sylvester she was thinking about how she needed a plan to get Quinn and Rachel together, the problem was, the only person she could think of who would be able to actually think up a foolproof and detailed plan  _was_  the Diva. Which was really inconvenient. When she did zone into what Sue was saying, she regretted it when the words, "And that's why I hire a six foot four Dutch man named Marnix to walk up and down my back three times a week." assaulted her ears. After that she stopped listening.

Cheerleading practice itself was a blur. She wondered, as she got to the top, why the hell people were so entertained by human pyramids. And why did she put herself through this crap. Then remembered that colleges love this shit.

By the time it got to the free period before lunch, the energy drink had worn off and she was back to being tired and her eyes were all scratchy. The four of them were in the library, and were sitting at the table furthest away from the librarian. The Diva pulled out a small white bottle of paracetamol and Quinn quickly snatched the container away from the smaller brunette and opened it, checking the contents. When she was satisfied, she handed it back.

"Just making sure." The pregnant girl joked. "As cute as you are when you're high, you're also a handful."

Rachel laughed. "Sorry."

"Whoa. Back the truck up. When were you high?" Santana asked.

"Couple of weeks ago. There was a Vicodin mix up and I spent many hours being very confused. Quinn took care of me."

Santana snorted. "Of course she did."

"I'm a carer." The blonde said narrowing her eyes at a smirking Latina, then turned back to Rachel. "And thanks to you, I keep having weird dreams about Devil Sue fighting Brad in the auditorium for the domination of humanity. She never wins, so that's good."

"Why would that be her fault?" The Latina pointed at the Diva.

"Among the few things I remember saying and doing that day, one of them was thinking that maybe, due to some bizarre thought process, that Brad was actually God."

"She kept calling him Brod." Quinn added with a broad smile.

"That's pretty funny, I wish I'd seen that." She smiled at the Diva. "Why were you taking painkillers though?"

"I get headaches in Chem. Class. I assume it's the chemicals that do it."

"Makes sense." Santana nodded. "So Q…"

"Yes?"

"Puck and I have been discussing your seventeenth."

"And?" The blonde asked with a frown.

"We've decided to make it fancy dress and it just be Glee club, because you're not friends with most of the people you were last year, and you don't have legal access to your parents house."

"No."

"You don't want to spend your birthday with your Glee friends?"

"No to fancy dress."

"Not negotiable."

"What the hell am I going to dress as?" Quinn asked waving her hands erratically around her stomach. "I look like a beached whale."

"I've thought about that. You and Rachel will be early season five Xena and Gabrielle."

"That's weirdly specific."

"Well she was pregnant in season five." Santana saw Rachel's hand shoot up and she rolled her eyes. "Yes?"

"Why can't I be Xena?" The Diva asked with the hint of a pout.

"Because," Quinn began, looking at her with a smile. "I'm like ten feet taller than you."

"That's an exaggeration." The smaller brunette said, keeping her pout.

"Only just." Santana laughed. "Are you still dead against the fancy dress now?"

"No, I suppose not." Quinn sunk into her seat and gave Santana a curious look. "When do you plan on having this party? And where are we going to get those costumes?"

"Saturday, and your outfits have already been arranged."

"That's very organized of you."

"I know." She said smugly.

She picked up Quinn's notebook and started flicking through the pages and noticed that all the horrible pictures of Rachel had disappeared, which actually made the book considerably thinner. She knew that the blonde had many notebooks, and she had the decency to not look through the other ones, except maybe the one with her dreams in, and given Quinn's repressed upbringing, some of them were not at all surprising, if not completely messed up. She stopped when she came to a picture of what looked like a cute demon, wearing some sort of robe and chewing on a chain that was around its neck. "Who the fuck is Mayor Charlie?" The pregnant girl snatched the book back from her, and then thumped her on the head with it. "Ow." The Latina frowned and stuck out her bottom lip. "No need for that."

"Please. You're the most hard headed person I know." The smaller blonde smirked.

"Yeah I am. So who's Charlie? Ow!"

"None of your business." The smaller blonde held up the book threateningly.

"Okay. Who is he?" Santana dodged the next attack with a laugh.

"Did you bring your toys with you?" Brittany asked Rachel.

"No, but I think it's gone passed that point now."

When the free period came to an end, Quinn and Brittany left to go to the choir room for lunch, and Santana had been ordered to keep an eye on Rachel while she was meeting Jesse. She was currently leaning against her locker a few feet away from the Diva, with an air of casualness, pretending to inspect her nails. From the corner of her eye she could see Finn watching the very awkward interaction between the smaller brunette and her boyfriend and she pushed herself off from the bank and strutted over to him.

"Aww, what's the matter Finnocence? Jealous that you're constantly bested by the bi-curious boyfriend of the girl you thought you were too good for?"

The tall boy spun around and scowled. "What's your damage Santana?" He snarled.

She grinned mirthlessly at his attempt at intimidation. "Nothing."

"What's going on with you three and Rachel?"

"We're friends."

"Bull!" His voice getting lower and a vein popping out of his forehead.

"No. Not bull. Unlike you, the three of us have seen that she's actually a nice person underneath all of her, general everything-ness, and we have fully committed to a friendship. Quinn moved in to her house this weekend. Did you know that?"

"You're lying."

"No. I'm not." She said evenly, her mood becoming darker with his anger. "I think she's realized that your way of friendship was shitty. Because your pattern of, be an asshole, be an asshole, be an asshole, then apologize, actually wasn't how it should be."

"You're a bitch.

"And you're a pathetic weasel with beady eyes. It bothers me that you're someone who thinks more of his reputation than stick up for anyone he claims to care about in case it hinders that precious rep." She growled. "You're a whiny little boy who desperately wants to be the Alpha Male, which is laughable, and in a nutshell, I hate your face."

She stormed off in the direction of the Diva, not knowing if she and Jesse were having a private conversation or not. Regardless of her outward persona, she had insecurities like most people her age, and what she'd just said to the football captain was not good and she needed to be near someone she was comfortable with to project that she didn't care that she just pissed off one of the most powerful students of the school.

"Hey." She said to the back of Rachel's head.

The singer turned to face her with a relieved smile. "Hi."

"We were in the middle of a conversation Santana." Jesse frowned.

Jesse St. James may be a ponce, and she was often tempted to mess up that perfect hair of his, but the one thing she could say about him was that he does have a nice voice. Much better than Finn's, it was smoother and sounded professional. He also didn't look like he was constipated while he was performing like the uncoordinated tall boy did.

But he was still a spy.

"Guess you're not anymore." She shrugged. And Rachel, who was still facing her, gave her a smile that said she knew she shouldn't have found that funny, but she did.

He blew out exasperatedly and shook his head. "We'll finish this later Rachel." And he walked off.

"That sounded, not good."

"No. It wasn't." Rachel rolled her eyes. "He doesn't understand why Quinn moved in, or how I forgot to tell him."

"Did you tell him that you forgot because you were having a good time with cooler people than him?"

"No. He probably wouldn't appreciate that."

"Dump him. You don't need someone who doesn't understand that they aren't needed."

"There isn't exactly a multitude of people out there who are prepared to date me." The singer sighed.

Santana felt a pull inside. This giving a shit about people made her feel bad, and she wanted to fix it. She draped an arm around the smaller shoulder and guided her towards the choir room to meet up with the other two friends. "You don't need many. You just need one. There's someone out there for everyone, even crazies like you. You might have to wait years to meet them, or they could be right here in front of you and you don't know it yet. I already told you that you deserve better, so why are you just settling? I am very wise, you should listen to me Short... Rachel."

The Diva laughed. "You've been doing so well not calling me names. I'm surprised you managed not to slip until now."

"I didn't slip!" She said in mock outrage. "I merely preceded your name with your height. I'm average Santana, and that," She said as she opened the door. "is tall Brittany."

"A likely story." Rachel snorted as she took a seat next to Quinn.

The two blondes looked confused, but didn't question the tail end of the conversation, and she took a seat on the piano bench next to the other cheerleader, playing a few notes. Then the image of Brad being God came back to her and she started laughing.

She really shouldn't consume energy drinks, they made her have wicked mood swings.

* * *

By the time Glee came around she was feeling considerably more human, and was back to her usual, consistently aloof faux personality. The four of them were sitting on back seats and Quinn was currently being interrogated by Mercedes and Kurt.

"When did this happen?" The other self proclaimed Diva asked with some distaste.

"Friday." Quinn answered with annoyance.

"I meant you four being friends."

"It's a prank isn't it?" Kurt said knowingly.

"Why does everyone think that?" The ex Cheerio snapped. She stood up and went to the centre of the room and faced the crowd. "You all need to stop asking me about this. No, this is not a prank. Yes, I now live with Rachel. She's also going to be my birth partner. If anyone has a problem with this, even though it's none of your business, then tough. I don't care." She grunted as she lumbered back to her seat, leaving a large portion of the group dumbfounded, and Santana felt very proud of her.

Mr. Schuester strolled into the room, placing his satchel on the piano and turned to his students. "Is everyone ready for their assignment?" There was a chorus of yes' and he smiled at what he assumed was enthusiasm. "So who would like to go first?"

Artie wheeled himself out next to the teacher and gave the man a smile. "I will."

The teacher looked over to Rachel, like he was expecting some sort of objection, and when it didn't come he walked off to the side and took a seat. "Okay Artie, away you go."

For the most part, Santana didn't really give much thought to Artie. It wasn't that she disliked him; she just never really spent that much time with him. Even in Glee they were all separated into different groups, and her clique and his rarely overlapped. His was the only song that wasn't a comical choice, but it was a song she liked and when he started singing his rendition of Happy Together, and he was directing it at Tina, she couldn't help but like him for his romantic nature.

Next up was Puck, somehow he'd managed to find a song about porn and she wasn't the least bit surprised. She and Brittany volunteered next, and when everyone joined in, she came to the conclusion that resistance of ABBA is futile. Matt and Mike did a strangely entertaining version of Blah Blah Blah, Mercedes did Milkshake, Kurt did Diamonds Are a Girls Best Friend and Tina's choice was Supergirl.

When Jesse took centre stage, she knew if anyone was going to give Quinn's song a run for its money when it came to winning Rachel over, it would be this guys. His slow version of Love Is Strange got the Diva swaying and she was annoyed at herself for liking it too. It was a good thing that, even though he was talented, he didn't have a particularly magnetic stage presence.

Rachel sung Shining Light, and Santana wasn't sure if it was about Quinn, because it wasn't exactly a plutonic song, and if it was about Finn or Jesse, then the Diva needed a serious talking to, or shouting at.

Finn performed You And Me and stood right in front of the smaller brunette, who seemed more interested in some invisible lint on her skirt, than him, and when he was finished Rachel visibly relaxed.

"You didn't enjoy Finn serenading you?" She asked.

"No, that was very awkward."

"Quinn." Mr. Schuester called out. "You're our last performer. Are you ready?"

"Yes Sir." She got up and took a seat on a stool by the piano, and then Puck picked up his guitar, turned the spotlight on while turning the main light off, and stood next to her.

The Latina felt a prod on her arm and she turned to the Diva. "What?"

"Do you know what she's going to sing?"

"Yeah."

"What is it?"

"Have some patience. She'll be starting any second. In fact, by the looks of it, she's waiting for us to finish this conversation."

"Oh." Rachel said sheepishly. "Sorry."

"She'll forgive you." She whispered.

When the guitar started playing, Rachel leaned forward, resting her elbows on her legs and put her chin in her hands. She was already enthralled. The Diva did know more songs than the whole room put together, and Santana caught a sweet smile from the smaller girl, so she guessed that the song had been recognized. Quinn had her eyes closed as she sang Kind and Generous, but even though she barely moved and wasn't looking at the person she was directing the song at, the pregnant girl still had what the two boys didn't. She put her heart on her sleeve and everyone in the room could feel she meant every word, and she did it without making an embarrassing grand gesture.

The happy sigh Rachel let out when the song was done spoke volumes to Santana and Quinn sported a ridiculously goofy smile as she took her seat to the sound of applause.

"Well done Quinn." Will Schuester said as he clapped his hands together. "At least some of you took the assignment seriously. Maybe this week's won't be such a task." He walked up to the whiteboard and wrote 'Duets' in red pen.

"Urgh. Again?" Santana asked.

"Yes Santana. Again. It'll be names from a hat like last time, Jesse excluded as he won't be here next week. So when I call your name, please make your way up here." He pulled out a sheet of paper and a small cardboard box from his bag. "Quinn, Brittany, Santana, Puck, Artie and Kurt. Please join me." He started ripping the paper he had into small squares, then folded them and put them in the box, giving it a quick shake. He stood in front of Quinn and she swirled her hand around, Santana was convinced she was trying to do a spell that would make her pull out Rachel. It didn't work. The pregnant girl smiled politely as she read out the name Mike, and she went to sit next to him.

Next he stood in front of Brittany and she bit her lip as she put her hand in the box. "Matt." She said, and bounced off to sit next to the football player. When he got to her, Santana was worried. There was a one in four chance she'd pick Finn, and that would be hell. She kept her cool and gave the teacher a forced smirk as she rammed her hand inside. In her head she repeated  _'Not Finn, not Finn, not Finn.'_  And when she pulled out the name she wanted to cry with happiness. "Rachel." She said and went to sit next to the girl.

Once the rest of the pairs were read out; Kurt was with Tina, Puck was with Mercedes and Artie with Finn, and they were all seated with their partners, Mr. Schuester wrote on another sheet of paper, ripping that up and putting the pieces into the box. He walked up to Finn and offered the container to the boy. "Don't read out the name Finn." Will said before the tall boy had a chance to say anything. When the teacher had gone around the rest of the pairs, he put the box down on the piano and explained that, rather than choosing their own song they were going to be choosing for whichever pair they'd just picked out. The theme was music from a soundtrack.

For privacy, everyone went to find an empty room. Santana and Rachel ended up in Izzy's class, and the Latina picked up a pen and started defacing the board with caricatures of her sister.

"Santana you really shouldn't do that."

"Why not?"

"Other than how offensive that is to Miss Caffrey, we  _are_  in here for a reason."

She wondered whether or not to tell Rachel yet about their maths teacher being her sister, but decided now was not the time. She would do it eventually, but years of keeping it a secret made her wary. "Okay, okay. You haven't shown me who we pulled out." She said taking a seat next to the other girl.

"Finn and Artie."

"Seriously? Oh my God! That's amazing." She jumped in her chair with excitement.

"You're planning on making them sing something inappropriate aren't you?"

"No. Not inappropriate, just something that widens their musical talent. It'll be an essential lesson. The more genres of music we, as a group can perform, the greater the chance we have at crushing any competition we have at regionals. You want us to win don't you?"

"You know I do." Rachel pursed her lips for a second. "Not that I'm agreeing to this, but what songs were you thinking?"

"Something... by the Spice Girls."

"Well," Rachel laughed. "It would be amusing to see just how much they Wanna Zigazig Ha. Are any of their songs used in a film?"

"Yeah. Spice World. Izzy has it on VHS, she doesn't know I know. She has it hidden in her wardrobe. You're not going to let me do it are you?"

"No. It'll just antagonize Finn." The smaller girl said, almost apologetically.

"Jeez, what do you see in him? I mean yeah, he's good looking, but there are plenty of better looking guys out there. You're an intelligent girl who likes to be challenged once in a while, and he's about as challenging as a bowl of cold custard. What he lacks in brains, he makes up for by being a complete tosspot."

Rachel starred at her with a surprised look for a while, and then asked, "What's a tosspot?

"Someone who is not very nice."

"Okay. You may be happy to know that I gave a lot of thought to the similar speech about Finn that you gave me on Saturday, and I couldn't really find any points that I disagreed with. So I would have to say, that I am no longer interested in him."

"Really? Because of what I said?"

"Yes."

"Wow. And I didn't have to use violence."

"Well done."

She gave the Diva a smile. "What song are we going to pick for them then?"

"Something from a boy film."

"Eye of the tiger. I'm sure that won't get Finn's panties in a twist."

"That might be an enjoyable song for them."

"Excellent. We can get out of here now." Before she left, Santana wrote 'You ate all the PI' on the board.

By the time they got back to the choir room, everyone was already there and Rachel gave Mr. Schuester their song choice and took her seat. Santana listened to the teacher read out the songs and was surprised that people had been so restrained. She and Rachel were going to do I Love Rock N' Roll, and she had to admit that was a sweet pick.

"We need to start practicing tonight." She told Rachel seriously.

"Why? We have a whole week."

"Yeah, we had a whole week for the last assignment, when did you finally decide on what song you were going to do?"

"This morning."

"Exactly. We have to kick ass next week, we'll go straight to mine after we finish here."

"Why can't we practice at my house?" The Diva huffed.

"Because. You have too many things to distract me at your house."

"Okay then. At least now I can meet your sister."

"No you won't. She's out until nine."

* * *

After Glee club was done, and Brittany and a sulky Quinn said goodbye, Santana had to go and get some things from her locker and text Izzy to not come home too early from her book club. As she rounded the corner she saw Finn talking to Rachel.

"… but I don't understand why you did it." The tall boys' brow was creased in confusion. She chuckled quietly to herself; he was clearly trying very hard to work something out.

"I did it because she deserves to be somewhere she's welcomed, and comfortable. And she's my friend."

"Since when have you been friends?" He asked with a hint of anger, moving closer to the brunette.

Rachel stepped back and crossed her arms over her chest. "Well, it's still technically in its infancy but it's been long enough to know that we  _are_ friends,"

"No you're not! She's been a bitch to you for years, she's playing with you. That's what she does; she can't like you for real."

Santana was about to step in but the Diva had her serious game face on, which only meant a serious rant was coming.

"You don't think she could like me?" Rachel shouted. "Because who could possibly enjoy my company? Quinn may not have been the nicest person in the past, but she has always been consistently honest with how she feels about me. I have known where I stood with her, which can't be said for you." The brunette poked the boy in the chest. "You have absolutely no say in how I spend my time, and who I spend it with. My friendship with Quinn is none of your business."

Santana grinned as she watched Finn standing silently for a few moments. "If you're friends with her, then you're not friends with me." He snarled.

"You're giving me an ultimatum?" When he said nothing and frowned again Rachel sighed. "You're making me choose?" She corrected.

"Yes!"

"Then I choose her." The brunette huffed and walked away from him in true Diva style.

Santana wondered if her friend realized she was storming off in the wrong direction, but you had to appreciate a good scene. She waited until Rachel was out of view and then ran down the corridor, passed Finn, ignoring anything he had to say, and tried to make it to the car before Rachel did. She didn't want her to know she'd heard the conversation. She opened the door to the drivers' side and started the car. Rachel got there a couple of minutes later.

"Take your time Berry, we got all day."

"Sorry, I got waylaid. I'll give you one free pass a day."

"What?"

"You didn't call me Rachel."

"Damn it."

The smaller girl chuckled. "I'm ready when you are."

She was glad to get home, if only because Rachel spent the entire journey searching the radio stations, and failed to pick one and stay with it. When she walked through the back door, she dropped her bag on the counter and went to the fridge, taking out two bottled waters and handed one to Rachel.

"Thanks." The smaller girl said.

"No problem." She went back in to the fridge and pulled out an oven dish with tin foil around it; taking off the note attached and turned the oven on. "I have to get dinner ready." She said glancing at the other girl.

"Okay."

She put the dish in the oven and took a swig of her water. "Just put your stuff on the table, and we'll go upstairs."

"Okay."

Rachel was being far too quiet, and she didn't like it. She didn't look upset though. "Are you alright?"

"Yes." The Diva smiled. "You have a very nice kitchen. It feels very warm."

"The oven's on." She said, pointing to the appliance.

"No, I mean the colour and the general atmosphere."

"Oh. Well thanks. Shall we head upstairs now?"

"Yes, certainly."

Once they were in her room, Rachel took a seat at the computer desk, and Santana flung her wardrobe doors open.

"We need to give you a makeover." She said eyeing the Diva's usual too short skirt, knee high socks and argyle sweater.

"Why?"

"Because you can't do Joan Jett wearing that. Or at least some of that."

"So what do you suggest then?"

"Hang on." Santana pulled out her favourite skinny black tee and handed it to the smaller girl.

Rachel looked at the writing on the faded top, and frowned. "I am  _not_  wearing that!"

"Why not?" Santana asked innocently.

"Because it says 'Lick Like You Mean It Bitch' and that is inappropriate attire for Glee."

The Latina laughed, took the top back and grabbed another skinny tee, this one bottle green, with a black lightening bolt. "There. Suitable enough?"

Rachel regarded it critically. Probably trying to figure out if it had any sexual meaning. "Seems to be." She answered warily.

"Put it on then. Bathroom's through there." She gestured to the door behind her and took a seat on her bed.

It didn't take long and when the Diva came out, she looked dubious. "I don't think this suits me."

"That's the point of a makeover."

"So far this isn't really a makeover. It's a change of clothes."

Santana rolled her eyes. "I'm not done. Obviously."

"Okay what else?" The Diva said with an expression that was suspiciously mirth-like.

Santana jumped off the bed and went back to the closet. This time going to her footwear section. She pulled out a pair of shin high black leather boots, with four inch heel and a silver dog chain around the right boot. Rachel looked at the boots, then at her, then back to the boots. "No." She said simply.

"Just try them. If you don't like them, we can find something else."

"But I can see I already don't like them. Why would I try them on?"

"Because it's a makeover Rachel. If I ask nicely, will you put them on?"

"How nicely?"

"I say please?"

"Carry on then." A smirk threatening the Diva's mouth.

She attempted to look put out, but couldn't pull it off. "Rachel. I would very much like to see you wear those boots. Would you please put them on?"

"As you asked so nicely, I will." Rachel sat on the bed next to her and removed her Mary Jane's. It took a considerable amount of effort to put the boots on, even though Santana was a size bigger than her, they were still a tight fit. "How do you usually manage to get these on?" The Diva asked as she finally managed to get the second one on.

"Harness and ropes usually."

"I bet that's how you do a lot of things." The singer said with a grin.

_'She is definitely getting ballsier with me.'_  Santana thought, but not with malice.

Rachel got up unsteadily. "I'm not very stable in them. I rarely wear any kind of heel and when I do they're generally smaller."

"Try walking in them."

"Standing seems to be quite difficult, so I'm not sure I should even attempt to walk."

"Try. I'll hold onto you to make sure you're secure."

Rachel frowned. "Okay. But I'd better not fall; the floor is considerably further away than usual."

Santana stood up and held onto Rachel's forearms, they were the same height now and it was kinda weird. "Okay?" She asked.

"Yes." Rachel nodded.

"Ready?"

"Not really, but I'll give it a go." Rachel wobbled quite a bit as she took her first - in the loosest possible sense of the word - steps "This is extremely difficult."

"You're doing fine."

"I don't think I can learn to dance in these."

"Sure you can. It's as easy as riding a bike."

"I can't ride a bike." She said, keeping her head down to focus on her feet. "I kept falling off and was taken to the hospital every time. After the fifth time my Dads were being questioned by social workers, so it was decided that maybe I should forgo that particular childhood activity."

"You could've stopped at 'I can't ride a bike' that would've been enough information."

Rachel looked up at her, about to say something, but faltered when she saw the smile. "You were teasing me."

"I was. You're getting the hang of it though. I'm going to let go now."

"That was usually what my Dads would say right before the ambulance was called out."

Santana laughed as she let her hands drop away and the other girl suddenly looked apprehensive and stopped walking.

"You can do this; move your hips at the same time."

"Okay." Her jaw tensed, and she looked back at her feet again. It was slow and methodical, almost robotic, but it was an improvement on her initial attempt.

"Pick up the pace."

"Ugh. I can't!" She sulked.

"Okay. Let's just find you another pair of shoes."

"No!" Rachel shouted. "I've put too much effort into this now. I can't just give up. I refuse to back down."

"Okay." Santana waved her hands in front defensively. "If you can't get to grips with them by the end of the week, then we change footwear. Deal?"

"Deal. Was there anything else for the makeover?"

"Make up." Santana said with a little too much enthusiasm.

* * *

She'd gone with the smoky look, and Rachel seemed unsure and was starring at herself in the mirror. Santana thought the whole outfit worked though. She picked up her phone and turned the Diva around to face her.

"What are you doing?" The smaller girl asked.

"Taking a photo."

"Why?"

"To document my work of art. Try not to look so grumpy." She took the picture and sent it to Quinn with the message.  _'Tubbers, wanna come over for dinner?'_

_'Yes.'_  Was the very quick and short reply.

"Quinn's coming over for food, I'd offer you what I got in the oven, but it's not very vegan friendly, we have salad stuff."

"Thank you."

"You think you can make it downstairs in those things?" She asked nodding at the boots.

"No time like the present to find out." When the Diva got up, she smiled proudly at the fact that she didn't stumble.

It took two minutes to get down stairs, and Rachel kept yelling the entire time, even though the Latina stayed close to her. When they got to the bottom Santana rushed towards the kitchen and grabbed the Hello Kitty oven gloves, opened up the cooker and pulled out the dish, setting it on the cooling rack on the island. Then she pulled out four plates and got the salad from the fridge, serving everything out and covered the extra plate and put it to one side for Izzy.

They started eating before Quinn got there, but she'd probably catch up anyway. Since the pregnancy, Santana was amused by how the blonde could eat more than Puck, and she always thought of him as having a black hole for a stomach. There had been lots of changes recently that she had to adjust to, things that had messed up the structure of her life, but for the most part, they were for the better, even if she never said it out loud. One of her best friends having a baby was a major change in thought process, but wanting to be nice to Rachel was a much bigger gear shift. Quinn had already said sorry to the small Diva, now it was her turn.

"You know, as you're the bottom of the food chain and me at the top, being a bitch to you was part of the social structure. As a cheerleader it is my high school duty to make, or in your case, try to make, all the losers feel very small, insignificant and pathetic. It's how it works. Now, during the last, however many years its been, I may have said some things to you that could be conceived by other people as cruel, like the Israel thing for instance, and considering my ethnicity, it could be thought of as worse because I said it. Obviously I can't take any of those things back, but I can promise that I won't say anything like that to you again. That doesn't mean I won't go back to calling you a Dwarf when this week is over, because frankly, you are the size of a garden gnome and sometimes I feel like putting a red hat on you and giving you a fishing pole. Oh, and making your cheeks rosy red and getting you to sit on a toadstool. What was I talking about?"

"I think you were, in a very round about way, apologizing for your past actions towards me."

"Ah that's right. I think I've caught the ability to go off on tangents from you." She chuckled. "So, yeah, anyway, sorry."

"I wasn't expecting any kind of apology from you. That was more than what I could've hoped for, so thank you."

"Meh." Santana waved her hand.

"Can I ask you a question that has been bothering me for some time?"

"You can ask," She said suspiciously. "but if I don't like it I won't answer."

"That's fair. Cheerleading has quite a rigid uniform code correct?" Santana nodded. "So how do you and Brittany manage to get away with wearing, what I assume are, friendship bracelets?"

"Seriously? That's the question that's been bothering you for some time? We hide hem up our sleeves."

"I hadn't thought of that."

Santana chuckled and decided to change the subject to something boyfriend related. "Now that I've got you to forget all about Finn, all I have to do now is persuade you to dump Jesse, and we can find you someone nice."

"Like who?"

"I don't know. Who is the nicest person to you, that's not your awesome Dads?"

"Quinn."

Santana gnawed on her lip so she wouldn't smile. "So we need to find someone like Quinn. Or Quinn herself even." She thought that maybe that had been too much. Subtlety has never been her strong suit. She didn't get an answer, but there was a blush covering the smaller girls face. "Do you like her?"

"I..."

This was where she had to be careful. "If you like her, and you don't want to tell me, that's fine. But you should know I am the Secret Keeper and we are friends now; remember we had that initiation and everything."

"I'm not sure. It's just... I've never... I know I have this habit of latching onto people who show even a tiniest amount of interest in me. But... This is different. I'm very confused by it."

Was that confirmation? She couldn't tell. "Like the difference between infatuation and genuinely caring for someone?"

"Yes." Rachel nodded slowly. "When she's near me, I feel..."

The back door being flung open stopped the Diva finishing her sentence and Santana buried her head in her hands and groaned. Ten seconds. Quinn couldn't have waited another ten seconds.

"What's the matter with you?" The pregnant girl asked with a frown.

"Nothing. Just happy to have someone else to talk to Rachel so I don't have to do it anymore."

Rachel gave her a smile and dropped her head, Santana got up to get the plate of food, as well as the dish from the counter because Quinn was most certainly going to have more than one helping, the blonde looked at the Diva, then turned to face the Latina and mouthed the words 'Oh my God.'

"You alright there Q? You need to use the bathroom or something?"

"No! Hungry."

"Well you're in luck."

After food they all went up to Santana's room to work out some dance routines. Quinn relaxed on the bed as the two brunettes stood in the clear space opposite, the Latina performed some moves as the song played in the background and the Diva attempted to copy, with not much luck. Thirty minutes later though, Rachel had improved and no longer looked like a slightly slutty clown, but she did almost fall over a number of times, so Santana asked the blonde to stand behind the other girl and keep her stable by putting her hands on her hips. Both girls gave her a wide eyed panicked look at this, but neither objected.

She liked to think of herself as Cupid, with a perverted side.

Now that Rachel was secure, she danced with much more ease and looked like she was starting to enjoy herself. As did Quinn. Santana glanced over to the blonde and grinned.

_Leather boots: $200_

_T-shirt: $30_

_Catching Preggo drooling over the Midget's ass: Priceless_

She laughed out loud at her thought and ignored the curious looks from her friends as she walked over to her clock to see what time it was. "Right. Time for you two to take a hike." She smiled. "We'll practice again later in the week, wear those boots as often as you can Rachel, just so you can get used to them."

"Okay. But can I take them off now? It'll take me ten minutes to get to Quinn's car otherwise."

"Sure." She said rolling her eyes.

It took both Quinn and Santana to remove the footwear, because the smaller girl failed miserably on her own, and once they were out of the house Santana congratulated herself at a job well done today at harvesting some very important information. Yup, this was going to be a worthwhile use of her time.

Mission Dorky Love was falling into place nicely. Rachel may be the Plan Master, but she came up with better names for them.

 


	11. Eleven

Rachel stood in the middle of the choir room smiling at the applause and wolf whistles that were greeting her; Santana grabbed her hand and whispered, "Bow." Out of the corner of her mouth, and the two girls bowed.

She was incredibly pleased with herself. It was their first proper rehearsal in front of people of the song they were going to do next week, and it was most definitely a success. The last few days she had been wearing Santana's boots as often as she could, practicing her walking at first, then gradually up to dancing. Her dads hadn't been exactly thrilled when they saw her walking around the house in them, but Quinn had been very encouraging. Now the aching feet and blisters had truly paid off.

Brittany stood up from her chair and grinned at her. "Rachel, that was really hot."

"Hey!" Santana gave the blonde an annoyed look. "What about me?"

"You always look hot."

"And don't you ever forget it." The Latina winked. "Anyway, I take it you folks liked it?"

"Hell yeah!" Puck shouted, and Mike nodded his head enthusiastically in response. "But I think we might've missed some of it, you should do it again?" The boy said waggling his eyebrows.

"Not a chance. We do it again and Rachel will be drowning in your drool."

"Ew!" The Diva said scrunching up her face in disgust. "That is not pleasant imagery."

Santana snorted at her before moving to pick up the bottles of water from the piano. "It's true." She said handing one to Rachel. "I gotta agree with B though Rach. You did look hot. Shame Tubbers isn't here to see it."

The singer scowled at the dark haired cheerleader. Since their, almost conversation on Monday about whether or not she liked Quinn - in that way - she and the other girl had had many actual conversations about it. At first she had been apprehensive discussing it with Santana, she wasn't sure that she was the best person to work her feelings out with, but the Latina had proven to be very good sounding board, and thanks to their talks, she had figured out that she did in fact like Quinn – in that way – although, she didn't know how to proceed with that information, and being told to just kiss the blonde wasn't helpful in the least. But now Santana teased her endlessly about it. And although she knew it was in good humour, it still made her feel uncomfortable.

"I'm sure she'll have other opportunities." The Diva said with a roll of her eyes.

"I'm sure she will, Cupcake." Santana grinned.

"You've had your free pass today."

"That wasn't name-calling. That was a term of endearment."

"Hmm." Rachel gave the other girl a dubious look, then made her way to the chair her bag was on, delving inside for her phone. "Well, I'm going to see if Quinn is awake now." And she pressed two on her speed dial.

"It's afternoon." The Latina frowned. "If she isn't awake now, then we need to go to your house and throw some ice cold water over her!"

"Shush, it's ringing." Rachel said with a gesture of her hand to indicate for Santana to be quiet. And her friend responded with her own hand gesture.

" _Why didn't you wake me? I am so very late for school right now."_  Quinn asked with a chuckle.

"You were exhausted."

" _And how would you know that?"_

"Because you did wake up, for a little bit anyway."

" _I did?"_

"Mmm hmm. Around seven. You came downstairs, got the orange juice from the fridge and a glass from the cupboard, then proceeded to pour the juice down the sink, put the glass in the fridge and gave the empty carton to me. Then you told me 'Back hurt' and went back to bed. I made a judgment call to let you sleep and Dad wrote you a note for school."

" _Ah ha! That's why there's no OJ. Well I appreciate the lie in. Thanks."_ __  
  
"No problem." Rachel said with a smile, which faded when the phone was snatched away from her by Santana.

"Hey Juno! Because you're such a lazy cow, you missed me and Rachel doing a full dress rehearsal of our song."

The Diva shook her head and turned to the boys behind her, as Brittany was busy doing cartwheels. Puck gave her a grin and pointed at the Latina. "She's a sneaky phone thief; you should spank her for that." Rachel chose to ignore the comment and turned her attention to Mike instead.

"Have you decided on your costume for tomorrow?"

"Kinda. I've got my dad's old tuxedo, so I guess I could go as James Bond. Or a waiter."

"It's nice to have options." She gave a quick glance at her watch, and gave the boys a wide smile. "I don't suppose the two of you would help me get Santana's boots off? The girls seem to be busy."

"I thought they looked familiar." Puck said as he stood up. "I can't believe you agreed to wear her sex boots."

"She didn't inform me of that." Rachel turned to look at the girl who was still on her phone. "But it doesn't surprise me." She unzipped the boots and the boys took a foot each. They managed to get them off with relative ease, and she was happy to be able to feel her toes again. She got up and took the phone back from Santana, and the Latina growled at her for a moment then went over to Brittany who was now doing handstands.

"Quinn?"

" _You're back!_ _I might be in later,"_

"There's no need for you to come to school, you should enjoy your rest day, we'll be busy this evening."

" _You've convinced me. I've still got to eat, I'm starving. And Murder She Wrote has just started, I want to see what happens."_

Rachel laughed. "Jessica Fletcher visits an old friend, and someone dies."

" _Now you've gone and spoiled it for me."_

"I know, I'm such a meanie."

After they said their goodbyes, she sat back down and pulled out her lunch. The four other people were having a conversation, but she didn't pay attention to it, her thoughts were drifting to what was going to happen later. She was nervous and excited about going to the antenatal class; it was a huge responsibility, and one she took very seriously because Quinn was counting on her for support.

She had spent the last week watching videos and reading the literature, but she knew it wasn't going to completely prepare her for it. The blonde had assured her that she would do a fantastic job, but she worried that it wouldn't be enough. She also worried about the complications of the birthing experience. She had read quite a few things on the internet about what could go wrong, and at one point she started having a panic attack because of an article about women who die during labor. At that point, both her Dad's and Quinn told her to stop researching.

"What about Rachel?" Her name being said brought her back from her thoughts.

She looked at Brittany. "What about me?"

"The zombie apocalypse!"

She waited for something to be added to that statement but, apparently, that was all she was going to get. "I didn't realize we were expecting one."

"You should always expect one." Puck chided. "You never know when the dead will rise, and you have to be prepared."

"It's true." Santana nodded. "You need to know what to do when it happens."

She stared at them for a few seconds, waiting for them to laugh at her, but they all seemed very serious. Especially Puck. "Do  _you_  know what to do in an undead rising situation?"

"Yes." He frowned. "Of course I do."

"Well, in that case, why don't you fill me in?"

"Fine." Puck huffed with a shake of his head. "But it's going to take more than the fifteen minutes we've got left for lunch. You should've worked this out a long time ago Rachel."

"Let's just hope you have a chance to tell me before it happens. Because if I turn into a zombie, I'll likely go for you first as you have very little hair, so your brains are considerably more accessible than other peoples."

He gave her a cautious look as he rubbed his head, then slowly edged towards the door. "I made some leaflets, I'll give them to you in next class. It would be a serious waste of hot Jew-ness if you turned Rachel." He walked out without saying goodbye, then came back in a few seconds later, and looked at Mike. "Dude, are you coming?"

"No, it's just the way he walks." Santana said with a smirk.

Mike sighed. "Yeah. See you guys later." He said, as he joined his friend, leaving the three girls alone.

"There are only a few things Puck takes seriously." Santana said, looking at a confused Rachel. "Girls, games and zombies. And not necessarily in that order."

"I don't know whether to feel relieved that Noah actually takes something seriously, or be worried that it's those things."

"I wouldn't think too deeply about it. It's just Puck."

"I'll take your word for it." She said taking a bite of an apple, and watched as Brittany used a cable she'd found somewhere as a skipping rope. "How did your father's birthday party go last night?"

The Latina slouched in her seat and cocked an eyebrow at her. "He ignored us for pretty much the entire time we were there, wife number four was being a passive aggressive bitch and the children from  ** _this_**   ** _marriage,_**  were being fucktards. But we were only there for an hour before my sister got pissed at him and dumped the bowl of punch over his head. Then we went to Joe's Ice-cream and I had a chocolate sundae. So yeah, it went pretty well."

"I like the strawberry sundae." The blonde said as she dropped down on the floor in front of them. "And the mint one, and the chocolate one. I used to like the banana one until my Mom made me watch her put a condom on a banana, and still don't know why. Maybe it's so it doesn't get bruised."

Rachel looked at Brittany, then to Santana who just shrugged, then back to Brittany. "Maybe. Yeah."

"Have your Dad's shown you that?"

She shook her head. "No. I haven't had the banana protection talk yet. I think my Dad's hope I won't need it for many, many years."

"Don't they want you eating bananas? Or do you like them bruised? Maybe you're like Santana and you like peaches more."

"Rachel's just got her eye on a particular peach is all B."

Brittany frowned. "That's very picky Rachel. What's wrong with all the other peaches?"

The Diva opened her mouth, and then shook her head. "I think this conversation has gone a little off track."

"Yes." The dark haired Cheerio agreed. "I believe it is possible."

"Perhaps we should change the subject then." There were a few moments of silence before Rachel jumped in her seat excitedly. "Oh! I know! I can't believe I haven't told you this before now."

"What? What?"

"Yesterday, Miss Caffrey took me to see Principal Figgins…"

"Why?" Santana asked sitting upright.

"At first I thought it was because of those drawings you did on her board the other day, but she wanted me to move to a more advanced class."

"And are you?"

"No. I convinced them that I could have the advanced text but stay where I was. Anyway, the point I was trying to make was, while I was in the office, I happen to catch a glimpse into one of Principal Figgins drawers," She glared at the Latina until the other girl stopped laughing. "As I was saying, there was an open drawer, and inside the drawer were at least fifty Sbuck balls."

"No way! Did you ask for them back?"

"No."

Santana deflated. "Damn it."

"Sorry. I wasn't thinking clearly." The Diva said sadly.

The Latina was quiet for a few seconds, before she patted Rachel on the head and grinned in a way the smaller girl didn't like. "It's okay Rach, we'll get them back."

* * *

Quinn had enjoyed her rest day for all of two hours before getting the urge to eat pickled onions, which the Berry household did not have. However the Lopez household did. So a short trip to Santana's was in order.

She'd left her pajamas on but thought that her oversized bunny slippers were probably impractical for driving in, so replaced them with the closest pair of shoes available to her, which were Lucas' steel-toed workbooks. Although what he needed them for was anyone's guess, as he worked behind a desk all day, and David did any of the D.I.Y stuff that was needed to be done around the house.

Before she pulled out of the drive, she opened up the large pack of Skittles she kept in the glove compartment and poured them into her mouth. Her food intake had increased tenfold this week, sexual thoughts had to be replaced with food thoughts, and Rachel in those boots was not helping her control her libido, that and she'd watched some episodes of Xena, and seeing what the singer was going to be wearing, made her extremely grateful that she wasn't going to be drinking any alcohol tomorrow. Otherwise, she probably wouldn't be able to control herself.

She made a beeline for the food cupboard as soon as she walked in through the back door of Santana's house, and was forced to go onto her tiptoes to reach the jar that the older sister had tried to hide from her after the last time she'd been here. After knocking over a bottle of ketchup, she managed to grab the jar before her toes got a case of the cramps. She smiled at the satisfying pop sound it made when she removed the lid then got out a fork from the drawer. Just as she successfully hooked a pickle, she was startled by a stern voice.

"Are you stealing my pickles?"

She turned to see Izzy standing in the doorway with her arms crossed, and a mildly annoyed look on her face.

"I was totally going to leave a note." Was what Quinn meant to say. What she actually said was, "Uhplurgh." As she spat out the brightly coloured candy clump she'd been chewing on since she left the Berry home, and it landed on the floor. She looked down at the large mass of Skittles, and watched as the ginger cat gave it a sniff and recoiled in disgust before walking off.

"That's not where we put our garbage in this house Quinn."

"Oops." She grinned, looking back up at Izzy.

The older woman rolled her eyes as she picked up some paper towels and cleaned up the mess. "Why aren't you in school Miss Fabray?"

"Why aren't  _you_  in school?"

Izzy stood up, and cocked an eyebrow at her. "You know it's not a good idea to come into someone's home, steal their food, make a mess on their floor, and then sass them."

"Which of those things are you objecting to? Because I'm pretty sure I've done them all before."

Isobel narrowed her eyes for a moment, and then relaxed. "None of them really. I'm hung over and therefore grumpy." She said as she put the paper towel in the trash can.

"Is that why you're not in work?"

"Nope. Got a thing this afternoon. I'm about to make lunch, so if you want to stay and eat some more of my food, you're welcome to."

"What are you making?"

"Whatever's in the fridge. And then frying it."

"Sounds good to me." She nodded. "I'm gonna go watch T.V."

"Okay. Have fun." Izzy gave a thumbs up and got out the frying pan.

She walked into the adjoining room and up to the mantelpiece, picking up the remote control from next to the large framed photograph of a smiling Santana from when she was seven years old and dressed as the Virgin Mary, holding Baby Jesus by his leg and a crying and bloody nosed Joseph standing next to her. Behind them, Joseph's Mom was looking rather angry and Izzy was trying not to laugh. What was better than this photo was the home movie of everything that happened before and after it was taken. It was an hour of magic moments.

She turned on the television and flicked through every channel, but failed to find anything, so went to the News channel then picked up one of the magazines lying around and turned the pages without really looking at the content. She sighed and threw the Sci-Fi magazine back onto the table and sat in silence, staring at the depressing events on the screen.

Quinn was feeling antsy. She couldn't tell if it was nervousness about the upcoming birthing class, or if it was the fact that this was the longest she'd gone without seeing Rachel in a week, not including sleeping of course. When she was in a class that Diva wasn't in, she spent the entire time thinking about her. It was getting out of control. She even did a Love Calculator test, and was so excited that they got 90% she ran around the room.

She stood up and walked over to the bookshelf, running her hand over the spines, coming to one of Izzy's math books. Rachel liked math. She had spent hours trying to explain to Quinn why numbers were beautiful. She said that there was complex simplicity to them, like a work of art, but the blonde wasn't convinced.

Next to the bookcase were all the CD's the sisters owned, most were their own made compilations, Quinn tilted her head to the side and squinted at the collection. The ones that she, Santana and Brittany had listened to the most, were the ones aptly titled, Songs That Sounds Awesome When Drunk. There was a whole section of soundtracks and musicals, and the blonde took a closer look at those, mentally ticking off the ones she had heard Rachel sing at some point.

By the time she got to twenty songs she realized she could be there for some time, so moved over to where the DVD's were, flipping through the sparse amount of films, and found the sectionals video. The last time she watched this was only a few days after it had been recorded. She was miserable at the time, and this had just been a reminder of how much she'd screwed up. With Finn and Puck. Of being in cahoots with Sue and how it had almost cost the Glee club.

Quinn put the disc into the player and pressed play. Isobel hadn't recorded any of the other clubs, she didn't care. She was there to support her sister and everyone else could sod off. The pregnant girl heard Rachel before she came on the screen. Baby responded like she always did and she put her hand over her stomach and rubbed softly. Now she wasn't miserable, she was happy, looking back on that day she remembered how those few minutes on stage felt good. How proud she was of everyone when they won. How much better it felt than winning any cheerleading competition.

As Don't Rain On My Parade was coming to an end, and the singer reached that long, loud note, Quinn held her breath until it was over then pressed the pause button and relaxed. The still image on screen was of Rachel smiling, and after a minute of looking at this, she thought that she was becoming a little creepy and shut the DVD player off. She really needed a distraction from her Rachel obsession right now.

As if by some Divine power, her phone rang out with the ringtone of Rubber Ducky, something Brittany had chosen for herself, and she flipped open her phone and read the message:

_Hey Q. S said you'd want this : )_

And that was the entirety of the text. Was the smiley face something she'd want? She supposed it was a sweet gesture, but Brittany always put a smiley face, even when it was inappropriate. Like when she told her she couldn't meet up because she had to go with her neighbor to the hospital to see her dying grandmother.

Then she received a video message and pressed the button to watch it. Her mouth fell open and she could feel her cheeks burning up, and, something else warming up too. Watching Rachel sing and dance more provocatively than she thought possible, was not in any way a distraction. But, Santana was right. The full dress rehearsal looked hot, and she was only seeing it on a tiny screen. She stopped the video, deciding that this was something that she needed to watch in her room. Alone.

"Food's done!" She heard a shout from the kitchen, and the blonde struggled for a few seconds before managing to get up from the sofa.

She sat down at the dining table as Izzy put the plate down in front of her. "You okay there Quinn? You look a bit flushed."

"I'm fine. Hormones and stuff. You know."

"Sure. Sure." The woman nodded. "Has nothing to do with you watching the sectionals video, and being totally in love with Rachel Berry then."

"Your sister can't keep her mouth shut, can she?" The blonde frowned.

"You know she tells me everything. Sometimes, things I really don't want to know, but she does tell me them."

"Well, she sucks."

"Occasionally, yeah. But maybe I can help you out here. I might be able to give you some advice."

Quinn bit on her bottom lip as she thought about whether or not she should take Izzy up on the offer. Perhaps having another point of view would help. "Okay. Do I tell her I'm in love with her? We live in the same house, and in all likelihood she probably won't be interested so it would definitely lead to some awkwardness. I really like living there, and I'd have to move back in with Puck, which I do not want. Would it be better if I waited to tell her after Baby was born? If I got rejected while I'm still pregnant, I might end up crying for a week, at least after I've given birth, my hormones won't be so all over the place. So what do you think?"

"Uh. I don't know."

"Yeah, that was really helpful. Thanks."

Izzy shrugged. "Have you considered just kissing her?"

"All the damned time! But I doubt that's the best way to go about it."

"Probably not." The older woman gave her an apologetic look, and then proceeded to eat her lunch.

* * *

Quinn had left Santana's house the same time as Izzy, and as soon as she got home she went straight to Rachel's room to relax. The blonde had managed to steal the jar of pickles without being noticed, and was eating them carefully, so she didn't get any vinegar on the bed. She was also reading the god awful book she'd been trying to read for the last week and a half, and had got through ten pages when she heard the front door open and the sound of footsteps running up the stairs. She stared down at the book, pretending she was engrossed in it, and there was a moments silence before she heard,

"Whatever you're eating, smells absolutely disgusting."

Quinn snorted a laugh and looked up at the brunette. "Baby needed pickled onions."

Rachel dropped her bag on the floor and jumped onto the bed. "But did Baby need to eat them in my room?" She asked giving the blonde a wide grin.

"Baby likes your room, and this was where my book was."

"Ah, I see. Where did you get the smelly food from anyway? I'm sure we don't have any here."

"I stole them from Santana's."

"Okay." The Diva chuckled. "I have to get a start on my homework, it's going to be a busy couple of days and I don't want to fall behind."

"I still have my stupid book to read." Quinn emphasized this by shaking said book angrily.

Rachel got out her laptop and sat next to her, and they settled into comfortable silence. Of course the pregnant girl couldn't concentrate on her reading material, The Diva was sitting pretty close to her, and it was making Charlie very hyper. To take her mind off any naughty thoughts, she started listing - in alphabetical order - her favourite literary characters in her head, getting up to L for Luggage when she heard of soft thud, Rachel mumbling something to herself, and then getting off the bed to sit on the floor.

"You okay Rach?"

"I'm fine. I dropped my phone."

Rachel peered over the edge of the bed, and that made Quinn snap her head back to the book that was resting on her bump. As she tried to think of a fictional character that began with M, a bright flash caught her attention. She looked back to the Diva, who was holding her phone up, and looking sheepish.

"Did you just take a photo of me?" She asked.

"No." Rachel shook her head.

"Let me look at your phone then."

"No."

Quinn narrowed her eyes as she lunged forward, and tried to grab the phone from the brunette, but in the struggle somehow managed to make it shoot straight up, hit the ceiling with such a force that it made a dent, and then land right on Rachel's lap. Both girls looked up, and Quinn held back a laugh before saying, "My bad."

"Yes, indeed." The Diva smirked, picking up her phone, and stared at it for a few seconds. "I'm not letting you get rid this picture." She said as she got back onto the bed.

"How do you know that's what I was going to do?"

"You attempted to rip it out of my hand to admire my photo taking abilities then?"

"No, I was going to delete it."

"Mmm hmm. Thought so."

"Well can I at least take a look? I promise not to delete it."

"Okay. But only because you promised." And Rachel handed her the phone.

"You really want to keep this Rach?" She asked.

"Why wouldn't I?"

"Because the light from the window behind me, makes it look like I've gone critical."

"I don't know what that means." The singer said looking at the picture. "But I like it. So I'm keeping it." And she gave the blonde a nod.

"Okay." Quinn smiled, and gave her back the phone. It made her more than a little pleased to think that Rachel wanted a photo of her so much, she was even prepared to have a hole in her ceiling for it.

She sunk down on the bed, snuggling up as close to the Diva as possible and hummed as she felt the other girls' fingers stroke her forehead. Her eyes began to droop as the feeling of utter bliss took over.

"You sound happy." The brunette whispered.

"You make me happy." She replied before falling asleep.

 


	12. Twelve

  
Quinn was eased into wakefulness by the feeling of pressure on her stomach. Her first assumption was that she needed to use the bathroom, because that was what it usually was, but after a few seconds she realized that she could hear Rachel talking quietly, and when she slowly opened one of her eyes she saw that she was in the singers bed and the other girl was lying on her back, resting her head next to her bump, and was talking to Baby.  
  
She frowned as she wondered why she wasn’t in her own bed, then vaguely recalled there had been a film and not remembering anything passed the opening credits. She wasn’t exactly shocked that she’d fallen asleep, it had happened so many times over the last few weeks and it had been mostly in the house, and sometimes in school too. She’d been woken up by teachers at the end of class on a number of occasions and sometimes she’d wake up of her own accord from having the sensation of drool on her face. But this was the first time she’d slept an entire night in Rachel’s bed, and she prayed that she didn’t talk in her sleep.  
  
She resisted the urge to move into a more comfortable position, and tried to concentrate on what Rachel was saying without making her aware that she was awake. The normally loud singer was being quieter than usual and the only things Quinn could make out were murmuring, a few hand gestures and bobs of the head, as if the singer were having an actual conversation with her unborn child. The blonde allowed herself a smile, only a small one, just in case Rachel somehow heard it and stopped what she was doing.  
  
After the birthing class last night, she wasn’t surprised that the other girl was chatting to the baby, because the woman in charge had talked about the benefits of talking and physically interacting with the fetus, as much as possible. She missed a few things that had been said, because she kept zoning out, but Rachel remembered everything. This was another reason she was the perfect partner.  
  
She continued watching as the bobbing and gestures continued until there was a dramatic arm flourish and Quinn heard, “New York.” but then the Diva went back to being inaudible. Over the next few minutes she managed to catch the words, Broadway, Typewriter, Apartment, Cockroaches, and Zombies, this was the point when she inadvertently alerted the other girl to her being conscious, by laughing.  
  
Rachel flipped over onto her stomach and arched a brow. “Were you listening in on my private conversation?”  
  
“I was trying to, yes. Why were you talking about zombies?”  
  
“That’s for Baby and me to know.” The Diva wriggled back up the bed so that they were face to face, and gave her a massive grin. “Happy birthday.”  
  
The trip from the middle to the top of the bed had made Rachel’s hair a little messy and Quinn brushed it out of the smaller girls face, tucking it behind her ears. She left her hand resting on the back of her neck, twirling a few errant strands in her fingers. “Thank you.”  
  
“Do you want your presents now?” Rachel asked quietly, her eyes closing slightly.  
  
“No.” She smiled. “Can we just stay here for a minute?”  
  
“Okay. But only for one minute, my Dad’s have many things planned for today.” And with that, Rachel’s eyes shut completely.  
  
The blonde watched as the other girls’ features slowly relaxed, and she gently moved her hand down the smooth neck and across the strong jaw. It was a risky move, but God damn it, it was her birthday. Rachel didn’t move, and Quinn couldn’t tell if it was because she’d fallen asleep, or if she liked it. She brushed the tips of her fingers over the singers chin and just below that, oh so plump bottom lip, and stared, thinking how easy it could be to just shift herself forward a little.  
  
Her phone buzzed and she yanked her hand away, clenching it into a fist for a moment then turned to the nightstand and flipped her phone open without looking at the I.D, she knew it was either Brittany or Santana.  
  
 _“Happy birthday bitch!”_ It was Santana.  
  
“Thank you very much tramp.” She looked over to Rachel, and the other girl hadn’t moved. Which most likely meant she had fallen asleep, and that was probably for the best.  
  
 _“The Mr. B’s said that we have to be there by ten for the birthday time fun._ ”  
  
“You actually sound excited.”  
  
 _“I am! This will set a precedent for future birthdays. It’s gonna be epic!”_  
  
“Have you been consuming caffeinated beverages?”  
  
 _“Better! I’m high on life. And I may have had a little bit of espresso.”_  
  
“Oh God!” Quinn groaned, rubbing her hand across her face.  
  
 _“It’ll be_  fine!  _It will have worn off by the time I get to you. Do you want me to bring the costumes there, or will you get changed here?”_  
  
“Might as well get changed there as we’ll be staying the night.”  
  
 _“Kay. See you in an hour.” And the Latina hung up._  
  
The blonde shut her phone, putting it back on the stand and looked over at the sleeping girl. “Rach?”  
  
Nothing.  
  
“Rachel.” She said a little louder.  
  
Still nothing.  
  
“RACH!”  
  
The Diva’s eyes sprung open and she looked bewildered for a moment. “What just happened?”  
  
Quinn snorted. “You fell asleep. What time did you wake up?”  
  
“About four. I had to make the cake.”  
  
“Oooh, now I feel all conflicted. Part of me thinks you’re an idiot for waking up at four to make a cake you could easily have bought. And the other part of me is thinking, woo hoo! Cake! I’m really not worth all the hassle you know.”  
  
Rachel stayed quiet for a second then exhaled. “Yes you are.” The brunette said seriously, then she sat up, kissed Quinn on the cheek and got off the bed. “Now, I’m going to bring you some breakfast, so you will have time to get ready for the day’s shenanigans.”  
  
The blonde stood up and pulled Rachel into a hug. “You spoil me too much.”  
  
“I don’t think I spoil you enough.”  
  
Quinn stepped out of the embrace and looked the smaller girl with a smirk. “Can I have ice cream for breakfast?”  
  
“Really? You don’t want anything more nutritional than that?”  
  
“Nope. I’m the birthday girl, and ice cream is the breakfast of gods.”  
  
“Fine.” The Diva let out an exaggerated sigh and shook her head in mock disapproval. “You get ready, and I’ll go get it.”  
  
Quinn watched as Rachel walked out of the room, her eyes focused on her legs, and once the brunette was out of sight she made her way to the shower, humming to herself. Santana may be off her face on caffeine right now, but she was right. Today was going to be epic.  
  
Once she’d showered and got dressed, she went downstairs into the kitchen and was greeted by a very loud rendition of ‘Happy Birthday’. Rachel stood front and centre with a large bowl of ice cream, topped with Oreo’s and strawberries, and a plastic candle right in the middle. David and Lucas swarmed her with hugs, singing right into her ear. And Brittany and Santana, who appeared out of nowhere, held a bouquet of helium balloons each. After they were done singing, she was handed her bowl and had the balloons tied to her wrists, then they all went to sit at the table.  
  
“That was beautifully sung. Thank you.” She said scooping up a large mound of her breakfast, and shoving it in her mouth.  
  
“Well, of course.” Santana scoffed, picking up an apple from the fruit bowl. “We’re the bee’s knees.” She picked up another apple and an orange, then proceeded to juggle them.  
  
Quinn watched her for a few seconds before pulling the ice cream closer to her. “Stop that.”  
  
The other girl pouted and put the fruit back. “You’re so bossy. Hurry up and eat your food.”  
  
Quinn looked across the table to the singer and rolled her eyes, but did as she was told. As she ate Santana and David started having a conversation about whether or not Charmed went on for too many seasons, Brittany watched intently as Lucas made a map of how to get to the fair using cutlery and condiments, and Rachel sat quietly, eating a grapefruit, smiling to herself, and occasionally looking over at the blonde. She seemed happy, and Quinn couldn’t help but be happy too, she wondered if they had gotten to the point in their relationship where their emotions seemed to be linked, it did appear that way. Sometimes when she was feeling a bit cranky she noticed that Rachel got a little bit snappish, and on the other end of the spectrum, when she was really happy, like now, her friend seemed to almost radiate joy.  
  
As soon as she was done eating, she was ushered into the den, where there were a lot of presents waiting for her and she squealed in excitement and flung herself onto Divine. Santana and Brittany sat on the coffee table, and both Mr. Berry’s took their usual place on the sofa. Rachel picked one of the smaller ones and sat next to the blonde, passing it over. “This one is from Maya.”  
  
Quinn tore off the paper and smiled at the contents, holding it up for everyone to see. “She got me a friendship bracelet.”  
  
“That’s nice.” Rachel said, “It’s a shame she couldn’t come over today.”  
  
“Puck’s fault.” She huffed. “He said he had to do something, and someone has to be in the house with his Mom. So Maya got lumbered with it.”  
  
“It must be terrible for her to have to look after her mother, she’s so young.”  
  
“Could we not talk about this right now?” Santana groaned. “Talking about the woman always brings me down, and it’s not the right topic for a birthday.”  
  
“Fine.” Quinn agreed, passing the bracelet she’d been trying to get on to Rachel, and then held her wrist out.  
  
The taller brunette cocked an eyebrow at her and exhaled slowly. The girl could even inject smugness into her breathing. “B’s present next.”  
  
Once the bracelet had been put on, she took the thick envelope that was covered in rainbows. “I made it.” Brittany said proudly, and from the corner of her eye Quinn could see Santana giving her a look that said, she’d better damn well like the gift. Or else.  
  
She lifted the flap pulling out a small book, and frowned at it. “Uh..?”  
  
“They’re coupons.” The taller blonde smiled.  
  
“Like for Walmart or something?”  
  
“No! They’re love coupons.”  
  
“Love coupons?”  
  
“Yeah, you know, ‘One Free Hug’ or ‘One Free Breakfast In Bed’ or ‘One Free Make Out Session’ that sorta thing. I got the idea from Puck. He gave some to his Mom.”  
  
“Noah gave his Mom a make out session coupon?” Rachel asked horrified.  
  
“No! He told me to put that in, he said it would be sweet.”  
  
“Yeah.” Santana scoffed. “Sweet. That’s, what that is.”  
  
“I thought so too.” Brittany nodded, missing her friends’ sarcastic tone.  
  
Quinn flipped through the book of coupons, pursing her lips. “Who am I going to give these to B?”  
  
“Well, Rach of course.”  
  
“Umm…” She rubbed her neck nervously and looked up at the wall, hoping she could see a black hole in that area.  
  
“Obviously you don’t have to give them all to Rachel.” Santana said quickly. “Anyway. Here’s my present.” She handed her a box with a panicked look, but with a trace of a smirk.  
  
“Thanks.” Quinn took the box, giving the Latina a grateful smile for the abrupt subject change, and took off just enough wrapping to check that it was what she thought it was, and then put it down the side of the chair.  
  
“What did you get?” David asked.  
  
“True Blood DVD.”  
  
“Oh, thoughtful.” He said giving Santana a look.  
  
“Hey don’t give me that judgey look Mr. Judgey. Me and Q have an understanding when it comes to birthday and Christmas.”  
  
“Which is?”  
  
“We tell each other what we want, that’s within a reasonable price range, and then get it. It’s worked out just fine for years. Thank you very much.”  
  
“Okay.” He held out his hands. “You know I didn’t actually say anything though right? Miss Defensivey.”  
  
“Hmm. Fine. What did you get her then?”  
  
He pointed to the package next to her. “Are you going to turn this into a gift-off?” He asked with a laugh.  
  
“Maybe. Depends on what you got her.” She stuck her tongue out at him and passed Quinn the box.  
  
“I think you two are a terrible influence on each other.” Lucas shook his head.  
  
“I would have to agree.” Quinn nodded while tearing off the paper. “Oh. My. God! Bop It Extreme!” The blonde put down the gift, heaved herself off Divine, with Rachel’s help, and fell into an awkward hug with David, the balloons that were still on her wrist hit him and Lucas in the face. “Thank you. I can’t believe you remembered.”  
  
“Of course I remembered Kiddo.” David leaned back to give her a toothy grin. “Whenever people that I care about tell me about the memories that are important to them, I retain that information. I’m a collector of memories.”  
  
“That sounds very sweet.” She said, hugging him again before extracting herself.  
  
“Or really creepy.” Santana added. “Depending on your point of view.”  
  
“Luckily, that isn’t my point of view.” Quinn slapped her friend on the arm and then sat back down.  
  
Once she’d settled, Rachel asked, “Why is Bop It so special?”  
  
“I used to have it when I was younger, I carried it everywhere, and one day my sister took me to the park, and I was playing with it there, and when she went to get me a drink or something, one of the bigger kids told me he wanted to play with it, I said no, and he yanked it out of my hand-“  
  
“Aww.” The Diva said, making a sad noise. “What a bully.”  
  
“I know!” Quinn laughed, leaning into the other girl. “I yelled at him to give it back, he didn’t, and then my sister swooped in out of nowhere, grabbed him by the scruff of the neck, and said he’d better give it back, or she’d tell his mother.”  
  
“What happened then?” Brittany asked leaning in, her face the picture of anticipation.  
  
“Well, he laughed at Cassie, and threw the toy at my head.”  
  
The taller blonde’s mouth fell open. “No way!”  
  
“Way!” Quinn confirmed. “He got out of Cass’ grasp and then stomped on my Bop It. I don’t know what happened for a few seconds after that because blood started running down my face, and I had to wipe it off, when I looked again, my sister had picked him up by the front of his shirt, and his legs were dangling, so he must’ve been a good way off the ground, she said something to him, I couldn’t hear what, but he wet himself. When she dropped him, he bolted off calling for his mom.”  
  
“Did he break your toy?” The blonde Cheerio frowned.  
  
“He did. But I kept it, as a reminder of how badass Cassie could be. I always knew she was cool, but that day, she became my official hero.”  
  
“Did you ever find out what she said to him?” Rachel asked, with a smile that made the pregnant girls’ stomach feel like there was a ton of butterflies fluttering about in there.  
  
“She never told me.” She could feel her cheeks getting hotter, and had to look away. Unfortunately she looked right at Santana, who knew exactly why she was all flustered, and her friend snorted a laugh. She narrowed her eyes at the other girl and that just seemed to make her laugh even more.  
  
Lucas looked between the two of them with his face scrunched up in confusion, then shrugged. “Okay. So we’ve still got some gifts left. Who’s next?”  
  
The Latina picked up a brown paper bag, and threw it at Quinn. “This is from Izzy.”  
  
The pregnant girl shook the bag and her face lit up at the sound. She tipped the container and a bag of chocolate fell into her lap, she picked them up, and held them to her face. “I love Mini Eggs!”  
  
“Yeah, well, that’s why Iz got her Grandpa to send them from London.” The dark haired cheerleader rolled her eyes. “Your unnatural love of them has been well documented.”  
  
“It’s not unnatural! They are delicious.”  
  
“Says you.”  
  
“You’re just jealous that your sister gives me some and not you.” She said giving Santana a smug look.  
  
“No I’m not.” The Latina folded her arms over her chest.  
  
“Pah! Are so.”  
  
“Not.”  
  
Just as Quinn was about to rebuff, she felt a warmth on her leg. She glanced down at the small hand that was such a stark contrast to her pale leg, and swallowed. Santana lightly kicking her in the shin brought her back to being semi-functional and she turned to Rachel, who was smiling at her quizzically.  
  
“I think Daddy wants to give you his present now.” The singer pointed at the smaller man.  
  
Lucas leaned over the side of the sofa, picking up four, small square, pale blue boxes with ribbons around them, and passed one to each of the girls. “Little Maya gave me the idea, and I thought it would be more appropriate for all of you.” He gave them a shy smile, and then stood up. “Who wants a drink?” He asked, and left the room before anyone could answer.  
  
“He’s afraid you won’t like them.” David whispered. “Open them, open them. He’ll be having a panic attack if you take too long.”  
  
All four girls looked at each other, then, at the same time, pulled the lid off their box. Quinn pulled out a silver necklace that had a pendant with an odd looking rectangle, and an inscription that she couldn’t make out, Rachel held hers up and it was the same silver chain with a similar shape and indistinct inscription too. Brittany held hers close to her face and squinted at it, trying to figure out what it said and Santana’s stared at hers with a furrowed brow. They looked over at David, silent for a while, and then the Latina spoke.  
  
“I don’t get it.” She didn’t say it in a snarky way, it was more that she was disappointed that Lucas had done something nice, and it was totally lost on her.  
  
“Pass them over.” The tall man beckoned with a lazy wave of his hand.  
  
Brittany collected them from everyone, and dropped them into David’s open palm. He picked up Santana’s pendant, and let it swing on his finger for a moment. “You,” He beamed at the Latina, “Are loud, rude, perpetually sarcastic and very aggressive. You have a strength that makes us proud to know you, and you are the only person we would want to protect the people we care about. Which includes you too.” The taller brunette tilted her head to one side, giving him a questioning look, he nodded, almost imperceptibly and she slumped a little, letting out a sigh.  
  
Next he lifted up Quinn’s pendant and attached it to Santana’s. “If he were in the room, Luke would say that you were a surprising gift to us. You make my little girl happy, and you keep her grounded.” He looked at Rachel for a moment and the singer bent her head slightly, letting her hair cover her face. “And for that you deserve a medal. But don’t think for a minute that she’s the only one in this house who’s pleased you’re here, Luke and I think of you as family now, and I’m sure you’ve got the raw end of the deal here, we get you, and you get a house of crazy.”  
  
Quinn wanted to say something, but she was sure that if she did, it would break some sort of spell. That and her throat had tightened up from trying not to cry, so she took hold of Rachel’s hand instead, and squeezed it. She looked over to Santana and caught her eye, her friend seemed to be feeling exactly what she was and they shared a smile. It was kinda strange, neither of them had ever really been the overly emotional type, both of them argued and called each other names as their way of showing they care, but there were some occasions that called for them to be emotionally honest with each other, and up until this point, those occasions had been gut wrenchingly awful.  
  
Santana’s features were usually so hardened, even when she was with her friends, it was like her defenses were permanently up, but right now, Quinn saw that she appeared almost serene. Their shared glance seemed to be the acknowledgement of acceptance. That this was where they were all safe.  
  
Of course she knew she had a tendency to romanticize certain things, but she was sure that this wasn’t one of those times.  
  
The two of them both turned back to David when they heard him speak again. “Young Brittany,” He started, placing the next piece onto the growing shape, and the girl wriggled excitedly. “You dance like a demon, you are kind, sweet, loving and you have the purest soul I’ve ever seen. You bring a brightness to everyone here. And anyone who doesn’t see that light in you, well, Santana will beat them up.” The Latina laughed, wrapping her arms around the blonde, pulling her closer.  
  
“Honey,” David said as he added the last pendant, “You have a big voice and a big heart, you love with everything you have, and we couldn’t ask for a better daughter.” He got up from his seat, holding the necklace out, and Quinn leaned in to inspect it, it looked like a castle now, and she could actually tell the inscriptions were proper words. She tried moving in closer, but couldn’t, so she took hold of it between her fingers and David let her take it and she read out what was written. “Strength, Heart, Soul and Wisdom. Together they are impenetrable.”  
  
“Luke wanted you all to have something.”  
  
Rachel jumped out of the chair, and stood in front of Quinn with her hand held out, the blonde took it, heaving herself up. The four girls walked out to the kitchen, getting bumped by balloons on the way, and saw Lucas sitting on a dining chair with his head between his knees.

“Mr. B?” Brittany put her hand on his back. “Are you okay?”  
  
He sat up straight, looking very pale. “Oh, yes, I’m fine.” He attempted a smile, but it looked more like he was fighting nausea.  
  
“Your present was really thoughtful.” Santana told him with an awkwardness that hadn’t been seen from her since the beginning of high school. “It’s really cool how they all fit together, and, you know, makes a castle.”  
  
He relaxed slightly, but still appeared nervous. “So you all like them?” The hint of desperation in his voice affected the three other girls the same way, and they all closed in for a group hug.  
  
“We do, Daddy.”  
  
“Oh, thank goodness.” He said, his voice muffled. “As much as I don’t want to ruin this very nice moment, I am having some trouble breathing.”  
  
“Sorry!” The three friends said in unison, jumping back.  
  
“We should go back in the den.” Brittany grabbed the Diva’s hand, pulling her towards the other room. “Q hasn’t opened your present yet. And we left the other Mr. B alone.”  
  
“I’m very interested to see what you’ve got her Pumpkin.” The Latina grinned, and Quinn assaulted her with her balloons. “Oh. Ow. The pain.” Santana droned. “I don’t think I can survive this. B, go on without me, save yourself.”  
  
“Nerd.” The pregnant girl said, hitting her a final time.  
  
“Dork.”  
  
They all took the seats they had been in, and Rachel reached behind the chair, pulling out a large sack. She opened it up and started pulling out the packages, placing them on Quinn’s lap. There were six in all, including what was in the bag and the pregnant girl held her hand over the smallest one at the top, and then snatched it quickly. She opened it up to find a book similar to Brittany’s coupons, and she flipped through it. Well, they were coupons, but they had nothing to do with love. She read the first one, and realized they were for the place where she and David had their bacon rolls, each page was one roll, and she counted ten! She was wrong, it had absolutely everything to do with love.  
  
“Do you think Frank will let me use them all in one go?” She asked with a smile.  
  
“No. he told me to tell you that you can only use one a day.”  
  
“Damn it.” She stuck out her bottom lip to emphasize just how sad she was, and then picked up the next present, which was a scarf she mentioned that she liked, she wrapped it around her neck and took the next one from the pile. She tore off the paper and laughed loudly at the framed photograph of her three friends, Puck and Mike posing in her parents kitchen, which looked like a flour bomb had gone off in it.  
  
“The first time we were in there,” Santana tapped the picture, “we were both too freaked out to do anything like that. Oh, and Rachel said I couldn’t. But after a few hours of me harassing her, she caved. I wish I could’ve been there to see their faces.”  
  
“You’re not mad are you?” The singer asked.  
  
“I should be, shouldn’t I? But, I’m not.”  
  
“I’m glad. Because I did rather enjoy it. Frankly, they deserve more than that, but there was a time restraint, and Noah was behaving like a five year old, and we had to stop him from-“  
  
“Rach!” The Latina snapped, giving the Diva an obvious glance toward her Dad’s.  
  
“Oh.”  
  
“You know what girls? I think we’re going to pretend that, that entire conversation didn’t happen.”  
  
“Much obliged Mr. B.”  
  
“I do suggest Santana that the next time you discuss things we probably shouldn’t know about, you wait until we’re in another room.”  
  
“Thanks for the tip.”  
  
Quinn opened up the next gift to find a box full of stationary. Coloured pencils and pens, a whole stack of notebooks and a pack of index cards. “So many pretty things.”  
  
“I may have exaggerated about your love of Mini Eggs, but you can’t deny that you’re obsession with pens and paper is a little weird.”  
  
“I can totally deny it.” She said picking up one of the pads and smelling it.  
  
“Alrighty then. You clearly have a perfectly healthy relationship with it. I’m sorry.”  
  
She tipped her head to accept Santana’s fake apology and put the box on the floor, because she still had two presents left. She picked up the penultimate gift, and removed the paper, it was a CD and the album sleeve look like it had come from a low end home printer. She looked at Rachel, who was smiling so widely it must have been hurting, then back at the case. The artwork was familiar to her, but she couldn’t figure out where from. She flipped it open, and got annoyed at the disc that had no information on it at all, not even who it was. “Okay, I give in.” She said to the room.  
  
Brittany took it from her, turned the stereo on, and very carefully put the disc in the tray. “You are going to love this Q.” The taller girl smiled, and pressed play.  
  
There was a few seconds of silence, and a voice came through the speaker.  _“Hey Georgina.”_  The voice said, and Quinn could do nothing about her eyes welling up.  _“So, my baby sister is growing up, I’m sorry I’m missing it, and I’m sorry about Mom and Dad, and I’m sorry that we haven’t spoken in a while. Dad told me you didn’t want to talk to me. I should’ve known that wasn’t true. You have some good friends, Georgie. They’re very persistent.”_  Quinn looked in the direction of where her friends were, but couldn’t see anything because of the tears.  _“I mean really persistent. The type of persistent that would end up having restraining orders, that kind of persistent.”_  
  
“We weren’t  _that_  bad.” Santana grumbled.  
  
 _“I hear you’ll be taking up Bop It again, just remember that I am the reigning champion, and I will not be defeated.”_  Her sister laughed, it was a laugh she hated when she was younger because it was Cassie’s cocky laugh that she did whenever she won against her in any game. Now she missed it.  _“Quinn. I promise I’ll speak to you as soon as I can. Properly. Face to face, or even ear to ear will do. Okay I’m going to stop talking for a few minutes, because your bossy friend that talks a lot told me to play something for you.”_  
  
She smiled when she heard Rachel laugh, and then closed her eyes, resting her head against her friend. She knew the piece of music almost instantly, it was the piece she always associated with her sister, and it was the same tune as the music box she had bought for Rachel.  
  
No one in the room talked, the only things she could hear was Cassie and the thump of the other girls’ heart. She was perfectly content to only care about those two things for a little while, because she loved the sound of them both.  
  
She hadn’t noticed the music had stopped until she heard her sisters voice again.  _“Happy birthday. I hope have a good day, I’m sure you will with your bossy, borderline stalker friends. Oh, and I just remembered who that kid was that broke your first Bop it, well, not his name, but his Mom’s name was Carole Hudson. She was really nice, but I’m pretty sure that he was retarded. I know he was a little shit. Anyway, I love you, and I’ll talk to you soon.”_  
  
She suspected Santana would start laughing, she was surprised when Rachel did, but when Lucas joined in, she was flat out dumbfounded. Finn was the boy who gave her the head wound? Well she was done feeling guilty for lying to him, and she was going to stop going out of her way to avoid him too. Any opportunity that would present itself, she was going to rip him a new one.  
  
“Who’s Georgie?” Brittany asked her.  
  
“Me.”  
  
“But your name’s Quinn.” The other blonde replied, clearly confused.  
  
“It’s just her nickname for me B.”  
  
“Ah, okay.”  
  
She waited to see if the laughter was going to subside, but when it didn’t look like that was going to happen, she picked up her last present. When Rachel saw what she was doing, she calmed herself as best she could, but didn’t quite manage it and she kept having random bursts of giggles. Quinn found that utterly adorable, so didn’t mind. Santana on the other hand had to be shocked out of her hysterics, so she used the only weapon she had. Her balloons. She managed ten or so hits before her friend stopped, and gave her the death glare. This would last for a few seconds, and Quinn would freeze completely out of fear, not daring to relax until Santana’s eyes didn’t look like they belonged to a serial killer. Once that happened, she loosened the cord on the sack and pulled out several new maternity dresses.  
  
“I thought I should get you at least one practical thing.”  
  
“Technically, it’s five practical things.”  
  
The singer shrugged. “If you don’t like them, we can exchange them for something else.”  
  
“I like them.” She reassured, and then she leaned into to whisper, “Thank you for the CD.” Honestly, that didn’t even cover how she felt about that gift, but she felt self conscious with everyone around.  
  
“You’re welcome.”  
  
“So are we done with all the presents?” Santana asked. “Because I have my optimum Bop It battle position all worked out, and I need a willing sacrifice.”  
  
“Actually,” Rachel grabbed the bag with Quinn’s maternity clothes and stuck her hand in, “Daddy wasn’t the only one who got other people something.” She pulled out two small items, she handed the larger one to Brittany, and the one that was the size of her little finger to Santana, and the girl didn’t look happy about that. The blonde opened the box and pulled out a Slinky, then immediately ran out to the hallway and up the stairs, once she was there she shouted down, “Thanks Rach!”  
  
“This is very small. Unless there’s a roll of cash in here, I can’t see how anything this size could be as cool as a Slinky.”  
  
“Stop being ungrateful.” Rachel told her.  
  
“I’m not being ungrateful, but you’ve set the bar pretty high with all these other presents.”  
  
“Just open it will you.”  
  
The Latina struggled with the tape that was around it for a while, and then resorted to using her teeth. When she pulled out the Shego figure she stood up abruptly and shouted “This. Is fucking awesome!”  
  
“Language Santana.” David said sternly.  
  
“Sorry Mr. B.” She sat back down on the table, holding the figure by the string that was attached.  
  
“So were your expectations met?” The Diva asked smugly.  
  
“You know they were. Thanks Rach.” The other brunette gave her a soft smile and then went to join Brittany.  
  
“She’s been having even more intense mood swings than you today.” David said, looking at the door the girl just walked out of.  
  
“She had espresso earlier. Excessive amounts of caffeine added to her temperament, is not a good combination.”  
  
“Good to know.”  
  
Quinn picked up the bag and shuffled to the edge of the chair. “I think I’m going to put on a pretty new dress.” She announced. Then she put her hand on Rachel’s leg, “Sorry Rach, I need leverage.” And she pushed herself up and stretched her back.  
  
“That’s okay.” The Diva replied cheerfully.  
  
Quinn wanted to feel like a terrible person for her opportunistic touching, she really did, but the pros far outweighed the cons. She walked out into the hall, and waited at the bottom of the stairs for the toy to reach her, and when Brittany ran down to get it, she went up. Stopping to watch Santana, who was sitting on the top step playing with her plastic cartoon character.  
  
“So does that have something to do with why you keep calling Rachel ‘Princess’ and ‘Cupcake’?  
  
Santana lifted up her little figure to her face, and made it do a dance. “It is.” She nodded, then put the toy down and gave her a curious look for a moment before speaking. “I like Rachel, I’m glad she’s one of us, this surprises the fuck out of me. Things have gotten better with her around, but I can’t even put my finger on why they’re better, just that they are. And as for you and her, I really do believe it’ll work out the way you want.”  
  
The blonde hesitated, that was not something she ever expected her friend to say. “Thanks.” She smiled.  
  
“Okay. You putting on one of your new dresses?”  
  
“Yup.”  
  
“Well, get your big fat ass in gear. The birthday extravaganza is still going on and there are places to go, and a vast amount of ridiculously unhealthy food to consume. Didn’t I tell you this was going to be the precedent setting birthday?”  
  
“You did.” Quinn rolled her eyes. Of course Santana would say something to ruin the moment.  
  
She left the cheerleaders on the stairs and went into her room, pulling out her new clothes and laying them on the bed. She picked up the one at the top, which was pink. As she got changed, she thought that this was the best birthday she’d ever had, and she couldn’t wait to see what more there was to come.


	13. Thirteen

Santana sat on the bench near the entrance of the mall, somewhat aware that there were people around, getting on with their Saturday, doing their Saturday things, but she wasn't really paying attention to them. It was four thirty, and the Berry family birthday spectacular was drawing to a close, and her brain felt like it had exploded with too much fun. Quinn, who was sitting next to her, slowly eating a pretzel, seemed to be in a very similar state of mind.

"I think I'm going to be sick if I finish this." The blonde said, turning slightly, making the balloons she'd refused to take off all day, gently bounce off the Latinas head. "But I can't seem to stop myself."

Santana wordlessly snatched the confection from the other girls hand, and dumped it in the trash can next to her.

"Thanks, I couldn't have done that on my own. You're like my junk food sponsor."

"I just didn't want you throwing up on me in the car."

"That would've been a possibility."

"I know." She said with the world weariness of having had that particular experience happen before. "Do you think those two will get bored of that at some point?" She asked, pointing in the direction of the escalators that Rachel and Brittany were standing at the bottom of, watching the Slinky the blonde cheerleader had brought with her, continuously go down the moving stairs.

"Nope."

"Didn't think so." There was snark in her voice, but a smile on her face. Brittany's ability to find wonder in the smallest things had a way of being contagious, and she wasn't really surprised that Rachel had been drawn in.

Sometimes, she wondered what kind of person she would be without her fellow Cheerio around, and no matter how many times she thought this, she always came to the same conclusion – A lesser person. She needed Brittany, probably more than Brittany needed her. It was also becoming apparent that this was happening to Quinn and Rachel.

"I need a pee." The pregnant girl said.

"Lovely. Thanks for that update."

"You have to help me up."

Santana huffed and stood up, then held out her hand for the other girl to take. "Heave Ho!" She shouted as she pulled Quinn from her seat.

"Less of the Ho, thank you very much."

She laughed as she sat back down, fighting the temptation to just lie on the bench and close her eyes. She watched Brittany and Rachel have a brief conversation with Quinn as she went to the bathroom, then the two of them turned to her with wide, happy smiles, that made her feel the need to smile back. Not just because her friends being happy, made her happy, that was only a part of it, the other part was that they both had their faces painted, and the sight of a blonde haired cat wearing a tiara, and a bear with a very small cowboy hat on, just tickled her no end.

Her phone beeped at her and she pulled it out of her back pocket and read the text from her sister.

**_Hey, Just about to leave for Kate's, There's pizza on the counter, including one of those pointless non-cheese ones for Rachel If you haven't eaten yet, please do before you start drinking later._ **

_We've eaten already._

**_OK, well they're there if you want them. Have a good time tonight. X_ **

_You too. X_

**_And if you get arrested, I'm not bailing you out until tomorrow. X_ **

_Noted. X_

She put her phone back in her pocket just as the cat and bear took a seat next to her. "You two done with the never ending Slinky already?"

"Daddy just called to say they're on their way. Plus some of the shoppers were starting to complain about us stopping them from getting on the escalator. They clearly couldn't appreciate the marvel of the whole thing. I bet they lead uneventful lives, and have no soul."

"Rachel Berry!" Santana dropped her jaw with exaggeration. "That was very mean of you. I hope you won't be making a habit of that."

The Diva bit her lip as she smiled. "It felt very liberating, but I don't think I'll take it up as a new personality trait."

"Good, because I don't want your Dad's blaming me for it."

"Why would they do that?"

"That's what parents do. I get blamed for being a bad influence on people, even by parents of kids I don't even know!"

"The injustice of it all!" Rachel balled up a fist and shook it in the air.

The Latina rolled her eyes. "Whatever." And the Diva responded by sticking out her tongue.

When they heard a  _'Rawr'_  coming from a few feet away, they turned to see a small child dressed in full dinosaur costume, stomping around trying to menace the Saturday people with his fearsome growls. He didn't seem to be bothered that most people weren't the least bit terrified.

"I'm gonna go and say hello to the dinosaur." Brittany said. "I hope he doesn't eat me."

"I'm sure he won't B."

The taller blonde skipped over to the boy and meowed at him, and after a moment's hesitation, possibly at seeing a giant cat wearing a tiara, he roared back.

The two brunettes watched in silence as Brittany and the boy had, what seemed to be, a very in depth conversation, consisting of only two noises. Neither one of them said anything for a few minutes, until Rachel asked, "Have you had a good time today?"

Santana heard the slightest amount of anxiety in the Divas voice, and immediately thought of how Lucas was a few hours ago. She pulled out the necklace from under her t-shirt, moving the pendant back and forth on the chain. "It's got to be one of my top five days ever, probably even top three."

The singer stared at her with a frown and a tilt of her head, it was a look she got on occasion, usually when someone was trying to figure out if she was being sincere. "Really?"

"Yes Pumpkin. Really."

There was a sigh and a smile. "Me too."

"You know it's not over yet though right?"

"I know! I am looking forward to the party later. Will there be karaoke?"

Santana scoffed. "Everyone there will be from Glee club, whadda you think?" A horrifying thought crossed her mind. "You didn't invite Jesse did you?"

"No. no, no, no, no, no. No."

"I'm sorry, I didn't quite catch that. Was that a no?

"Mmm hmm. I didn't think it would be a good idea."

"Because you lurve Quinn, and he might notice?"

Rachel didn't respond, but her facial expression basically said, 'Yeah'

The blonde in question was on her way back, and had somehow managed to acquire another balloon from somewhere, and a large sticker that proclaimed she was the 'Birthday Girl'

"How is it you go to the bathroom, and come back with swag?"

"I'm just gifted that way." The pregnant girl smirked, and plonked herself next to Rachel. She stayed silent for e few seconds then asked, "Is Brittany meowing at a roaring dinosaur?"

"Obviously." The Latina answered with her 'Well, Duh!' tone of voice

"Just checking." Her friend shrugged and leaned in closer to Rachel.

Santana's Mission Dorky Love plan wasn't coming together. So far she'd only come up with the name, and how she wanted the plan to end. She'd had plenty of ideas, but none of them seemed right. There was the idea of making a mix CD with all love songs on, and then giving it to either one of the girls and say it was from the other one. But both of them would see through that right away. Then she thought about inviting them round for dinner, making everything look as romantic as possible and when they got there, she'd make an excuse and leave. But when she actually thought that through, she realized that it would be, just plain awkward for them both. She did briefly consider handcuffs.

The one thing she never thought of, was telling them both that they felt the same way, because they'd shared this with her in confidence, and she couldn't betray the trust of anyone she cared about. If she knew a secret of someone she didn't care about however, she tell Jacob Ben Israel, and that shit would be all over the school in seconds.

It was damned frustrating though.

"You lot look like the day release patients of a psychiatric institution." David mused, taking in the scene before him.

Santana looked around, and objectively, the image of a pregnant girl with balloons attached to her, snuggled up to a teenage girl with her face painted like a bear, while another girl that had a cat face, was talking feline to a small dinosaur, could come across, to the outside observer, as a bit nuts. "I dunno, looks pretty normal to me."

He gave her a soft chuckle then clapped his hands. "Is everyone ready to go?"

There was a chorus of yes', and a meow. Everyone picked up their bags of the keepsakes they'd collected throughout the day, and made their way towards the parking lot.

They didn't stay very long at the Berry home after the mall, Santana had a small cup of coffee, just enough to have a pick up, and not be a jittering mess. Brittany was being taught the basics of air guitar by Lucas, and Rachel went to pack an overnight bag for Quinn and herself, while the smaller blonde cut up her birthday cake, putting half of it into a plastic container to take with her. She was also made to leave her balloons, which she did, with much complaining.

Once they'd got to her house, Santana pulled out the costumes and handed them over. "Hurry up and put them on, Puck's picking us up soon."

Rachel and Brittany hurried up the stairs, and Quinn stayed where she was. "Do I have to be Xena?" The blonde asked with a pout.

"Yes."

"Why?"

"Because if you're not going to be Xena, Rachel can't be Gabrielle."

The other girl pursed her lips while she mulled that thought over, and then nodded. "Okay, I'll be Xena."

"You've made the right decision, my perverted friend. Now come on, let's go get changed."

"Alright, alright." Quinn mumbled as they walked out the room.

Santana had known what costume she was going to wear the day she and Puck had decided to have a costume party. She knew most people would probably assume it would be a sexy- something. Pirate, nurse, whatever. But really, she was going to go as a ninja. There were a few reasons why. Firstly, because ninja's are awesome. Secondly, because she would be in comfortable clothes all night. And thirdly, Izzy's karate instructor ex-boyfriend left one of his black uniforms in the house, and never came to pick it up. So she claimed it as her own, and got her sister to do the alterations so it would fit and look more ninja-like. She got a hood to go with it too, but it probably wouldn't stay on long.

It only took her a few minutes to get changed, but she had spent the last five minutes trying to get all the damn ginger fur from the cat off it. She glared at him as she pulled the strip of Scotch tape from the jacket, and he paid her no attention whatsoever. "Why do you have to malt so much?"

There was a knock, followed by, "Are you done?"

She opened the door, and was impressed by how good Quinn's costume looked. "Where's the wig?"

"Xena's blonde tonight. I put it on and it was like my scalp was being rubbed by sandpaper."

"Okay." She said distractedly, handing the other girl a piece of tape, and turned around. "Get the fur off my back will you."

She heard Quinn snort, and then felt a slap on her back. "Looks like Mr. Fluffy shed half of his coat on you."

"Stop calling him that, it's not his name."

"It might be, not even your sister can remember what his original name was. You both call him twenty different names, and wonder why he never comes when he's called." The blonde took another bit of tape, and patted along her shoulders

"He never comes when called because he's a cat. A really old, grumpy cat."

"Who likes to cover your clothes in noticeable fur." Quinn waved the fluffy strip in her face to emphasize her point. "Maybe he doesn't like you."

"Laugh it up Chuckles."

"I am. And you're all done this side."

"Most excellent. I'm going to see if those two are ready."

She tapped on the door, and heard Brittany tell her to come in. The taller blonde held up her wand, and shimmied her shoulders to make the wings move. The fairy costume was white, with  _alot_ , of sparkly jewels on it, but if anyone could pull it off, it was this girl. "I was going to bring some glitter, and throw it at everyone, but if it went in their drinks, it might not taste nice. So I decided to put it on my costume instead."

Santana responded to this by kissing her, and she felt her friend smile against her lips. She pulled away slightly, and wiped away a small smudge of pink lipstick. She was so distracted by hands that were on her hips, she almost forgot there should be someone else in the room. ""Where's Rachel?"

Brittany turned around so fast, she had no time to avoid being slapped in the face by heavily glittered wings. "Rach! I thought you were ready." The taller girl shouted towards the bathroom door.

"I am. I'm just not sure about this."

"Oh, for crying out loud." The Latina shook her head, and opened the door to the room where the Diva was hiding. "What's the problem?" She asked, and before she got an answer, she saw, what Rachel might be unsure about. "Fuck!"

The singer looked down at the two piece outfit. "Is it really that bad? I thought it was a bit…"

"Rachel! Listen to what I'm about to say. This little number," She swished her hand around the clothes. "Is not bad. In fact it's the complete opposite of bad. Is very, very good. You like Quinn. If you want her to see you as more than her friend, you have to keep this on."

"I don't know. She might just see me as dressing inappropriately."

"I'll tell you what. If she can manage a coherent sentence after she's seen you in this, we can try and find something else for you to wear."

"Okay. But you should get ready to find something that fits me."

Santana gave her a smile. "Hang on." She walked back into the bedroom, where both blondes were sitting on the bed, and announced, "Rach will be out in a second." She waited, and then headed towards the entrance, "Get out there." She whispered roughly. And the smaller brunette swallowed, exhaled and strode into the room. The Latina watched Quinn the whole time and if she were a cartoon, her eyes would be popping out and there would be honking noises. "Q? How do you think Rach looks?"

The pregnant girl made a few vowel sounds, and finally settled on, "Mm." while nodding her head so hard she'd probably get whiplash.

Santana looked at Rachel with a told-you-so face, and the singer mumbled out "Fine." But looked like she was trying not to smile.

"Right. I'm gonna get the CD's of Songs That Sound Awesome When Drunk, B, you text Puck, tell him we're ready."

"Kay." The blonde Cheerio said as she pulled out her phone, and The Latina made her way downstairs, when she got halfway down, she realized she was being followed and turned to see the cat heading towards her, so she ran the rest of the way and once she was a safe distance away, she rolled up her trouser legs, and grabbed the music from the shelf, then bolted back to the bedroom.

"He says he'll be a few minutes." Brittany said as soon as she walked in.

"Cool." She took a seat next to the taller blonde, opposite Quinn and Rachel, who were squashed up against each other humming some little tune. "Did someone remember to pick up the plastic cups?"

"I did." The pregnant girl answered. "They're in my bag, in the other room." She made a vain attempt at getting up, and then slumped back down. "Can someone get my bag please?"

"I will." Brittany bounced out of the room, coming back a few seconds later and handing the bag over to its owner.

Quinn took the cups out, putting them next to the CD's, then pulled out four lemons, adding them to the pile. "Ooh." She said as she held up a small box and handed it to Rachel. "I got you this."

"It's not my birthday." The Diva said as the present was handed to her.

"It's not their birthday either, but you got them something. Think of it as a- Friendiversary gift if that makes you feel better."

"I don't think that's a real occasion."

"Sure it is." Santana cut in. "It's the anniversary of the beginning of a new friendship."

Rachel looked at Quinn and asked, "So which day is the beginning? The slushy day? When you had to take me home because I was high? The day you told me I could borrow you for lots of secs, or when you named my chair?"

"WHOA! Whut?" Santana held out her hands, shaking them wildly. "Say that again!"

"It's not what you think." The smaller blonde said quickly. "Secs, as in short for seconds."

The Latina deflated with a groan. "Lame!" Although the two bright red faces in front of her cheered her up a bit.

The doorbell went before Rachel had a chance to open the box, and the four girls greeted Batman at the door. "Holy battling bard! Berry you look particularly fine tonight."

"Thank you Noah."

"Saddle up ladies. The booze ain't gonna drink itself."

Quinn gave Santana a look that the Latina translated as, 'Keep all the boys, especially him, away from Rachel. Use excessive force if needed'

She gave her friend a nod, and begun her protection detail by making sure Pucks' hands were not in proximity of the singer. Keeping Rachel safe was going to be easy, so that meant tonight was all about the good times. Friends, booze, song and the possibility of punching some of the male members of their club in the face. A girl couldn't ask for more.

 


	14. Fourteen

Quinn took a quick glance at the clock on the laptop she was on and let out a long breath. It was just gone three thirty in the morning, and she wasn't tired, which was why she was using Santana's computer to pass the time, and also so she could put the photo's that had been taken during her birthday party on a screen bigger than two inches. There had been a lot of pictures and it seemed like it was taking forever to upload.

She let out another long breath, shook her head slightly and smiled.

A soft bang coming from the kitchen made her turn to look, and after a few quiet moments she heard someone singing- "Spider-man, Spider-man, he can do whatever a Spider-man can, spins his web, catches flies, turns them into delicious pies. Look out! Here comes Spider-man."

Okay, so what was it with these Lopez sisters making up weird rhymes? Sure it was endearing, and usually funny, but was this some sort of genetic thing?

As she was about to get up to go and see Izzy, the woman in question came through the door holding a tray apparently having some sort of conversation with herself. She decided to wait until Izzy noticed her, just in case the conversation was important, and she watched as the woman put the tray down on the dining table, look at what was currently covering the table, and then laugh. "Hot diggity damn! They pulled it off."

Quinn bit her lip to stop her chuckle. Izzy really should've been pissed at what they had managed to 'Pull Off' but she actually sounded a little surprised, and more than a little proud. The older Lopez sister picked up her tray and turned to walk towards the couch then let out a yelp. "Quinn! You scared the Bejesus out of me. You shouldn't sneak up on people like that."

"I was here first." She answered with a smirk.

"Pft. Meaningless details." Izzy waved her hand like she was brushing away Quinn's excuse, and unsteadily made her way to sit next to her on the couch. "What are you doing up anyway? It's really late."

"Couldn't sleep." She shrugged. "Too wired."

"Okay. I've got…" Izzy frowned and opened up the container that was on her tray. "Steak. I don't remember ordering this; I thought I asked for chocolate fudge cake. Hm. Anyway, would you like some? There's a lot of it."

The pregnant girl looked down at the food, and then back up at the woman. "I'll get a knife."

"No. No. You stay here. I've seen how long it takes you to get up from the sofa." The older woman gave a snort, handed Quinn the food and pushed herself up with a grunt. After some general kitchen clanging, she came back with a plate and some cutlery then proceeded to cut up the meat and hand the plate over to the blonde. "Voila. Sustenance!"

"Much obliged."

They ate in relative silence, with only the odd hum from Izzy, and the tip-tapping of the keys on the laptop. "You get grease on Ana's computer, and she'll kill you."

"Nah." Quinn said confidently. "She won't."

"No, probably not. But she'll be really miffed, and shout at you."

"I'm immune to her bellowing. Years of it, in incredibly large doses, have seen to that."

"Yeah she's right cow. I don't know how you put up with her."

"Same reason you do."

"She's family and you love her." Izzy nodded approvingly. "What are you doing anyway?" The woman asked closing one eye while squinting the other.

Quinn turned the screen to her. "I'm looking at the photos from tonight."

"Oooh." Izzy brightened up, and then quirked an eyebrow at her. "You realize that it's tomorrow now though. Right?"

"I haven't slept yet, so I'm still thinking of it as today."

"Alrighty. So, show me these photos then." The blonde clicked back to the first one, and the older Lopez leaned in, still with one eye closed. "Can't see." She said, and took the laptop away from Quinn; dumping it on her legs. "So, why is my sister trying to hug the wall by our front door?"

"She was trying to prove how ninja she was by camouflaging herself against it."

"But, she's wearing black. And the wall is white."

"I know that, you know that, everyone else knows that …"

"How drunk was she at this point?"

"Not drunk. Still caffeinated."

"Ah." Izzy clicked to the next one. "Okay, so this is everyone in the car." She clicked again. "Everyone still in the car. What's the next one? Oh look, it's still everyone in the car."

"You're being very sarcastic. How drunk are  _you_  ?"

"I don't know. How long ago did I see you last?"

Quinn looked at her watch. "About five hours ago."

"Then I'm about five hours drunker than I was five hours ago."

"Good to know."

"Ah ha! Now we have a picture of a shed."

"It's not a shed. It's 'The Barn'"

"You can call it a barn as much as you want. It's a shed."

"For crying out loud, I know it's not actually a barn, but Puck and Mike have spent years renovating it from a crappy cow shed to a really cool place to hang out. If they want to call it 'The Barn' let them."

"That was an unnecessary strop. How was I supposed to know when you said it was the barn, that it was actually  _'The Barn'_  ?"

Quinn groaned and scrunched up her face. "Sorry Iz."

Izzy shrugged it off and gave the blonde a friendly rub on the arm. "You're not the only one immune to stroppy teenagers. Let's carry on looking at these photos then."

"Okay."

"Here's one of Puckerman singing on karaoke, and everyone looking really annoyed."

"He was singing 'I Believe I Can Fly' and changed the words 'The Sky' to 'A Child'. It wasn't funny."

The older woman went quiet for a few seconds and then said "Ah."

"Indeed."

"That's a nice one of the four of you."

Quinn nodded with a smile. "Probably because they were all sober at this point."

"That and I can barely see Ana."

"Don't be mean. She was only hiding behind Rachel because she was getting a bit emotional."

"And you say she was sober?"

"You know how she gets sometimes when someone shows they care."

"Yeah." Izzy chuckled. "What happened?"

"Rachel."

* * *

"All I'm saying." Santana growled. "Is that you should never trust a politician who relates to the song 'Redneck Woman' what kind of message does that send to people?"

"For the love of God, Lopez." Quinn said with exasperation. "All Artie said was that he found it funny that she chose it as her theme song. It didn't warrant a twenty minute rant about how Sarah Palin sucks. This is a birthday party, and all political talk is off the table! Now get a beer, and chill the hell out."

"Fine." The taller brunette huffed. "You three sit down, and I'll get us all some refreshments."

"Just water for me." Rachel said.

"Yeah. Right." Santana smirked and left the remaining friends to take a seat on the battered couch.

"She isn't coming back with water is she?" The Diva asked, and Quinn shook her head.

"You should watch out for Santana, Rachel." Mercedes pointed at her with a beer bottle. "She's a bad influence."

The smaller brunette frowned. "No she is not, Mercedes. Even if I were inclined to be easily led, Santana isn't that kind of person. So I suggest you keep your uninformed opinions about my friend, to yourself."

"Looks like she's already got her claws in you." The other girl hmphed, and walked away towards Kurt.

Rachel crossed her arms defiantly, and in unison, she, Quinn and Brittany sat down. "Sometimes I think I preferred it when I didn't have any friends." The Diva said, and rested her head on the pregnant girls shoulder. "I could usually ignore the abuse that everyone threw at me. But, it always hurts me more when anyone says anything unpleasant about one of you."

Quinn gave Brittany a look over the top of Rachel's head, and the taller blonde smiled and crushed herself up against the singer. "I'm so glad we're friends Rach. I wouldn't have known you were such a bad-ass otherwise."

"Um, thank you Brittany." Rachel said from somewhere near Quinn's chest. "I'm glad that you are glad."

"Awesome."

Quinn was relieved to see Santana coming back with the drinks, and she gave her an imploring look. She didn't even care that her friend would mock her; she just needed her to get Brittany off Rachel, so the singer wouldn't be so close to her rapidly beating heart.

"Okay. First of all, why the hell are you lot having a group hug without me? And secondly, stop squashing the girl with a tiny human growing inside her. She'll just end up needing a pee in a few minutes, and insist on telling us about it."

"Sorry." The two other girls said as they moved away.

"You didn't answer me." Santana passed out the bottles, one was actually water, but not for Rachel. "Why the hugging?"

"Because Rachel is far too loyal than you deserve." Quinn wagged a finger jokingly, and then regretted it when she saw a brief, but definite hurt look, cross her friends face. But the taller brunette tried to cover it by rolling her eyes.

"Quinn." The Diva admonished her with a light slap on her leg. Apparently, Rachel had picked up on Santana's attempts at hiding her feelings too. "I am no more loyal to Santana, than she is to me. And that is quite a lot."

The dark-haired Cheerio straightened up and gave the singer a beaming smile. "Thanks." She said, and sat down on the arm of the sofa next to Brittany, and held out her bottle. "Happy birthday, Fabray." And the four girls clinked their bottles together and took a swig.

"This is disgusting." Rachel gagged slightly, and eyed the bottle in her hand. "Isn't there any nice tasting alcohol? I don't think beer is the beverage for me."

"Wine coolers." Quinn said, and the Diva looked up at her, paused for a second, then took another swig of the beer.

"Actually, it really isn't that bad on second thoughts."

The blonde snorted. Rachel knew the part wine coolers had played in her pregnancy, and had decided to hate the drink with a passion.

"So why was Rachel loyal?" Santana persisted. "What did I miss?"

"She totally stuck up for you San." Brittany grinned at her friend. "Mercedes was all, she's a bad influence, and Rach slapped her down. With her words though, not like how you slap someone down. And then Rach was bummed because she gets upset when someone says mean things about you, and me, and Quinn. So I told her she was awesome, then Q gave me a happy look so I hugged her."

"Really?" Santana looked directly at Rachel, and the singer nodded. "Cool. Guess I should hug you too." Quinn saw her friends eyes get just a little bit shinier, before she leaned over Brittany, wrapped her arms around the smaller girl and kissed the back of her head.

The sound of a click and flash of light grabbed their attention, and they all looked to see Mike holding his phone up. "Nice." He said, and then left them to go over to where Puck and Matt were arm wrestling.

* * *

"I guess she can be sort of sweet sometimes." Izzy smiled at the picture.

"Yeah. She can."

"But tell her this, and she'll deny it to death."

"Most certainly."

Quinn watched Izzy flick through more of the pictures, and her mind started to wander. A lot of thing happened tonight that weren't captured by a camera. Some of them she was glad about, they could probably be used against the four of them in court.

The feeling of something against her legs startled her, but when the cat jumped up onto the sofa she worked out what it was.

"Mind out. He'll try and steal your steak." Izzy said, and rather than pushing the cat off, Quinn picked up the piece of meat and stuffed most of it in her mouth, and the older Lopez gave her a smirk that was identical to her sisters. "Try not to spit that food out onto the floor this time will you." Quinn frowned and opened her mouth and stuck her tongue out to show the chewed up steak. "Lovely."

"Mmm hmm."

"Are these in timeline order?"

Quinn nodded her head, attempting to eat her food as quickly as possible. "Aye?"

"Was that a 'Why'?"

The blonde nodded again.

"Just wondering what was going on here. Looks like Ana and Rachel are about to have a show down," Izzy turned the computer, and Quinn laughed, spraying just a little bit of food.

* * *

Rachel was sitting at the table in 'The Barn' staring directly ahead with her teeth clenched, and her eyes were beginning to water, but she looked like she was determined not to look away.

"Okay. Go!" Brittany called out.

And the Diva and Santana slapped cards down in high speed frenzy.

"Snap!" The cheerleader shouted, and the game continued.

Brittany turned to Quinn who was sitting next to her and said "This is exciting!"

"Yes. Very." The pregnant girl chuckled. And took out her phone to capture the ridiculous sight.

"You lose Cupcake." Santana said with a smirk. "Down another shot."

"This 'snot fair! I'm clearly drunk. Is a well known fact that the consum-ption of alcoholic beverages slows down re-actions. Snap is a very fast paced game! And I didn't know the rules for the first three games we played. Because you made 'em up." Rachel pointed at Santana accusingly. "That was why I lost, and had to drink those shots. And you outright cheated with the starring competition. You caused a lapse in my con-cen-tration."

Quinn watched as Santana leaned in and whispered something to Rachel, and the smaller brunette responded by blowing a raspberry at her.

"You're so mature Princess. Another game of snap?"

"Uch. No! No more."

"See how being competitive can get you into trouble?" Santana said shuffling the cards. "So who's next? Tubbers?"

"No thanks." Quinn smiled sweetly. "But you can help me get Rachel on the couch, she looks like she's about to slide off the chair."

The brunette cheerleader snorted. "And who's fault is that?"

"Yours."

"Fine. I'll help you move your drooling girlfr-"

"Santana!" The smaller blonde yelled, before her friend had a chance to finish her sentence.

"Like  _she_  knows what's going on right now." The Latina grinned and got up out of her seat.

Quinn muttered several curse words as she stood up, and walked over to the two brunettes. "Just so you know Lopez; you'll be doing most of the lifting here."

"Why the hell should  _I_  be doing all the hard work?"

"Because I'm already carrying someone else."

"You do realise that most of the extra pounds you've accumulated over these last few months, are actually pounds of fat. Not baby. And you've got even chunkier since you've been living with the Dwarf."

"Hey." Rachel poked Santana in the stomach, causing the taller brunette to let out a chuckle. "'Snot Sunday yet, and you've had your free pass today."

"Lo siento."

"So you should be." The Diva relied haughtily.

Quinn and Santana manoeuvred the barely upright Rachel to the sofa and Quinn took a seat, leaving the Latina to put the other girl in between the two blondes, and lifting her feet onto the pregnant girls' lap. "Thanks for helping Juno." Santana narrowed her eyes before she plopped herself into the armchair next to the couch.

"Rach? You still awake?" Brittany asked looking down into the still face of the singer.

"Muh." Was the reply. Followed by a quiet snore.

"I think she needs a bit of sleep," Quinn said looking at Santana. "Did you really have to get her so drunk, so early?"

The other girl didn't reply, she just smiled and took a swig of her beer.

"She's going to be out for the rest of the night now."

"Aw, poor Quinnie."

"Don't call me that." The pregnant girl scowled.

"You shouldn't worry about Rachel. She didn't drink that much, and she's only drunk now because she drunk the shots so quickly. Give it half hour and you'll be able to look longingly into her half closed eyes for the rest of the night."

"I hate you so much."

"On the bright side, while she's in this position, you can stare at her surprisingly toned stomach without fear of being caught." The brunette Cheerio took another swig of her drink. "By her I mean. Me and B on the other hand will tease you endlessly."

"Brittany won't tease me." Quinn said, sticking out her chin defiantly. "And I'm not  _that_  lecherous."

Santana picked at the label of the bottle in her hand, "Yeah." She looked up at the blonde and smiled. "You know you've been caressing Berry's leg this entire time right?"

"No I haven't!" Quinn lifted her hands away, but finding that there wasn't really anywhere else to put them, she kept them up.

"You look like an idiot right now." The Latina laughed.

"I don't care. I'm comfortable."

"Just put your grabby hands back. The unresolved sexual tension between you two is fucking exasperating."

"Whatever."

"Nice retort."

"Shut up."

Santana moved her position, so that her leg was dangling over the arm of the chair, and looked around the room, making sure the rest of the Glee club were otherwise engaged. "Can I ask you a question?"

"You don't normally ask permission." The blonde raised an eyebrow.

"No, well, it's kinda personal."

"Again, you don't normally ask. Just get on with it."

"What are you going to do with Baby?"

Quinn stared at Santana for a moment, trying to assess whether or not her friend was going to take the piss. She sighed and rubbed her face. "I don't know. Give her up I suppose."

"But you don't want that." Brittany said, and leaned over the sleeping girl on her lap to touch Quinn's shoulder, and she had to smile. Bless Brittany, she could always see right through her friends. "So what do you want? Really?"

The pregnant girl turned her attention back to Santana, who gave her a shrug and a reassuring smile. "It's just us, no one else can hear."

"I want to keep her. I want me and Rach, and her Dad's to be her parents. At first it was just this silly little fantasy that kept me awake in class, but now it's all I can think about. There is so much love in that home, and that's what I want for her." Quinn said rubbing her stomach.

"Have you talked to them about this? I mean the subject must've come up, it's not that long until you're due."

The blonde shook her head. "I've  _almost_ talked about it."

"Doesn't count."

"Yes, I'm well aware."

"I wasn't being bitchy. Not intentionally anyway. Look, Q, what have you got to lose by talking about it; telling them what you want?"

"What I want isn't practical. I must be a drain on their hard earned resources, add a baby to that and…" Quinn spread her hands helplessly.

"You're thinking with your brain, Q." Brittany told her, giving her shoulder a squeeze, having not moved her position bent over Rachel.

"What do you recommend I think with?" Quinn gave her a confused look.

"With your heart."

"She's got a point Fabray. You're using logic, try using emotions."

"I'm emotional enough thanks."

"Jesus Christ! You love Rachel, and her Dad's. They love you. You are basically family now. If you think for one second they wouldn't want you  _and_ Baby in their lives, you're just plain crazy."

"But what if you're wrong?"

"I'm not. And this is getting maudlin." Santana said taking a large gulp of her beer.

"Ha." Quinn said solemnly. "Somebody can't hide their knowledge of fancy words when they're a bit tipsy."

This made the brunette laugh, and consequently ended up spraying herself with the alcohol that she hadn't swallowed yet. Which made Quinn and Brittany laugh. All three girls stopped when Rachel mumbled something, and then went back to snoring, almost immediately. And looking at each other, the girls began to laugh again.

* * *

"So," Izzy said. "Are you going to talk to them?"

"Urgh, you too? Yes, I am."

"Jolly good. You know, I've been thinking about this thing with you and Rachel."

"Do I really want to know this?"

"Not in a weird way. I was thinking that all that time you were a bitch to her, was like the equivilant of when boys pull girls pig-tails because they like them."

"I don't think so."

"How many pictures of her did you draw in your notebook, again?"

"Your sister has a mouth on her." Quinn frowned.

"She may have mentioned it. But you're forgetting I'm your teacher; I've seen some of them myself. So how many was it?"

"More than five, less than a hundred." The blonde said, and folded her arms.

"Yeah." The older woman drawled with a smile, and put the computer on the coffee table in front of her. "My legs are very warm, and my eyes are getting blurry. I need a rest from photos. And I need a drink." She got up, and Quinn held her hand out to be lifted up too. "Want a drink to?"

"Nope. Need a pee."

"You're awfully big on the whole 'over sharing' thing aren't you?"

The blonde nodded and made her way to the bathroom. When she was done, she walked into the kitchen, and was immediately handed a bottle of water.

"I have some old dolls from when Ana was a kid."

"Okay."

"How do you fancy decapitating them, and putting the heads on Ana's pillow, so she sees them when she wakes up? I think I still have some fake blood too."

"That sounds amazing."

"You're such a good sport Miss. Fabray." Izzy said, smiling, and went to the cupboard pulling out a box marked 'Old Crap' "I'll pull the heads off, and you can put the blood on." She handed Quinn a smallish red bottle.

"You are incredibly childish Ms. Caffrey." The blonde said, taking the bottle. "Why are you called Caffrey anyway?"

"It was my mothers' maiden name. And as much as I usually like to torture my sister." She lifted up the doll. "Case in point. I didn't want other kids in school knowing we were related. She hasn't always had it easy."

"No." Quinn agreed. "Okay, how much blood am I putting on?"

"As much as you see fit, my pregnant accomplice."

"Sweet. Can I gouge out the eyes?"

Izzy squeaked. "Oh my God, yes!"

"When we're done with this, we'll carry on looking at your photos."

"You don't have to."

"I want to. You seem to have quite a lot of them, and I'm going to bet that there is at least one I can use to blackmail Ana."

Quinn laughed. "There are."

"Excellent."

The blonde watched as Isobel picked up three bloody heads, walk towards the stairs and trip on the first one. "Ooh, silly feet." The woman chuckled, and carried on with her climb.

Quinn went to the cupboard, managed to find the pickles, picked up her water and went back to the sofa, petting the cat as she sat down.

She looked forward to showing Izzy the rest of the photos. The day she had spent with her friends and the Mr. Berry's had been utterly fantastic, and she didn't think it could be beaten. She was wrong. And she wanted to share the memories of every crazy, sill and sweet thing, she and her best friends had done over the last several hours, just so she could re-live them again.

 


	15. Fifteen

Quinn put the laptop on the table and wiped the cat snot off of the screen with a paper towel, and then she gave the mangy ginger creature a stern telling off. He just gave her an unconcerned look and walked around in circles on her lap before sitting down. 'Well, at least he didn't sneeze on my food' She thought, and then ate another teeny, tiny onion.

She was waiting for the older Lopez sister to come back downstairs from her decapitated doll head practical joke on her sister, so she decided to see what other photos she had, because everyone just sent all of theirs to her at the end of the night. There were likely going to be ones Izzy wasn't going to care about, so she might as well sort through some of them now.

The next picture was from Puck's phone and it was only about twenty minutes after the snap game. Quinn smiled at it. It was of her, Rachel and Santana, all sitting on the tatty couch in 'The Barn', and she and the taller brunette, bookending the semi-conscious, but very happy looking Diva.

* * *

Quinn and Santana watched as Brittany and Mike danced to one of the songs from the 'Songs That Sound Awesome When Drunk' CD, While Mercedes, Tina and Kurt were pretending they were in a soap opera, and doing things like, walking off in the middle of a conversation, forcing the other person to talk to the back of their head. And Puck, Matt and Artie were quoting lines from Showgirls, mostly saying, 'Everybody got AIDS and shit' and finding it the most hysterical thing. Every, single, God-damn time.

Santana shifted in her seat turning to face the blonde. "You know. I don't want you take this the wrong way, but sometimes I think you've got multiple personalities."

"How could I possibly take that the wrong way?" Quinn quirked an eyebrow.

"You might, or you might not take it the wrong way. I don't know which one of you I'm talking to."

"I don't have D.I.D, I'm just not totally balanced with my emotions. I am a teenager, and I am entitled to be inconsistent."

"Whoa! You even know the terminology."

"That's because I've seen that show with the woman from 'Sixth Sense' in, about this very subject, as it happens. You Tart." Quinn flashed her friend a grin and took a swig of her water.

Santana laughed "Yeah, yeah. Excuses, excuses."

"Somebody's hand is on my ass."

Both girls looked down at Rachel, and then looked at her ass. Quinn glared at Santana, who moved her hand away quickly.

"Sorry, I thought it was a cushion."

"Yeah right." She narrowed her eyes at her friend.

Rachel sat up, finding herself squashed between the two girls' and she looked at Quinn, then looked at Santana and chuckled before closing her eyes and leaning back.

"She crazy too. So it doesn't matter that you've got a disorder." Santana shrugged and chugged her beer.

"Are you saying I'm crazy, Santana Lopez?" Rachel asked with a smile, but still kept the same position.

"I've said it more than once my friend. And I will continue saying it. Because you are, and that's why I like you."

"That's not the  _only_  reason." The singer said knowingly, turning her head towards her friend, but keeping her eyes closed.

"Oh? What do you suppose the other reasons are, exactly?"

Before Rachel could reply, Batman strolled over, taking a photo and said, "Hello ladies."

"Get lost Puckerman." Santana said with a laugh.

"Noah!" Rachel shouted happily and her eyes snapped open.

"You wanna dance Berry?"

"Yes!" The Diva said excitedly.

"No." The two other girls said in unison.

"Oh. No I don't, sorry Noah." And the smaller brunette closed her eyes again. Puck growled and mumbled "Cockblockers." under his breath.

"I like Noah." Rachel mumbled.

"Not too much I hope?" Santana asked.

"No. I think I like him, just the right amount."

Quinn raised an eyebrow at this, but Santana shook her head in a way that said 'Not like  _that_ , don't panic'. She appreciated her friends' silent assurance, and then glanced down Rachel's barely-there top. Oh, there was Charlie. Hello.

"You know what I call it?" The Latina said.

"Call what?" She answered, forcing herself to look up at the other girl.

"What you just did. I call it my 'Man Switch'"

There was no point in denying it, especially to Santana who would know she was lying, as she had just caught her in the act. "A man switch?"

"Yeah. It usually happens when I'm talking to a friend, of the female persuasion, and we're there just, you know, talking, and then all of a sudden, a switch gets flipped in my brain, and all I can think is  _'Boobs'_  and then I look at them. Only for like, a millisecond, and then I have to manually turn the switch back off. Except with B."

"Does this happen with  _every_  girl?"

"Yes, Squirmy, even you, and…" She pointed at Rachel. "It's not, a thing, it's, you know, boobs! I can't help it. Don't take it personally."

"I'm not!" Quinn laughed. "I just never noticed you doing it."

"That's because I'm not a boy, and I have more control over it."

"Boobs" Rachel said the word, emphasizing the 'Oo' sound, and then snorted. "Boobs is a fun word."

"I think you'll find, boobs is just plain fun." Santana patted the smaller girl on the head.

"Yeah."

* * *

"Phew." Izzy said as plopped herself down on the couch. "You know, it wasn't until I opened the door that it occurred to me that they might be… you know… being intimate. And… God damn it Quinn! Stop eating my pickles!" The woman yelled, throwing her hands up in the air.

The blonde laughed, and actually managed to keep the food in her mouth. But she did dribble a little. "You should find a better hiding place." She said, wiping her mouth.

"I shouldn't  _have_  to." Izzy grumbled. "I only bought them today, I mean yesterday. Because you stole my last jar." She growled in frustration then she picked up the fork she'd been using earlier and held it out to the blonde. "Put one on each prong, I want to at least have some before you scoff them all down, like the pickle stealing greedy-guts you are."

"Harsh." Quinn smirked, and did as she was told. "I don't believe for one second you're actually  _that_  annoyed at me."

"Why not?"

"Because. You're the most. Awesome! Person! Ever!"

"You didn't even say that with a straight face, you sarcastic cow."

"I did try." Quinn shrugged. "So did you manage to place your heads?"

"Yeah, but I had to use duct tape." She laughed. "I always do the Duck Tales tune in my head when I say duct tape. Anyway, I put one on her pillow, one on her nightstand and one on the headboard."

"You covered all the bases then."

"Yup." Izzy took the computer off the blonde and clapped her hands together. "So what do we have next on the, under-age-drinking-party show? What the hell is that?"

Quinn leaned in closer and frowned. "Puck's arm. Maybe? Or something else. I don't know, just move on."

"Yeah. That's probably best. Well there's something you don't see everyday. A fairy, a ninja, a waiter and a vampire, singing into bottles.

"Mmm hmm. And singing 'The Final Countdown' too."

"Classic. Oh, someone's finger taking up the whole shot. Another classic."

"I'm pretty sure that was Brittany." Quinn said smiling.

"Possibly. Is that Ana hitting Puckerman? And is that…?"

"Yes. It is."

* * *

"This damn breast plate is digging in to me." Quinn huffed, yanking at the right hand side of her costume. She wanted to do the same to the other side, but Rachel was currently snuggled up next to her.

"You want me to help you take it off?" The brunette asked, moving away from her position, but the pregnant girl was to busy failing to fight the blush spreading across her cheeks to be sad about the sudden coldness left by her friend turning to face her.

"Uh, no. I'm not actually wearing anything underneath it."

The singer gasped. "No, that would be really, really bad then." She stood up unsteadily and gave the blonde a determined look. "Stay here."

"Where is it you'll think I'll go?"

"Somewhere I won't see you. And that would make me sad. So, STAY!" The Diva nodded at her, and walked off into the direction of Santana and a Storm Trooper on wheels. Quinn found herself hypnotised by the swishing of the singers' hips.

"Happy birthday Quinn." An alien said, handing her a card.

She jumped in surprise, and gave the boy a smile "Thanks Matt. How's it going?"

"Good. Rachel's pretty wasted." He said pointing at the singer, who was standing in front of Santana and pulling at her top. Quinn hoped she wouldn't pull too hard. It really was a very small top. "She's kinda fun like this. She's normally so… Rachel."

She gave the boy a curious look and said. "Okay. Is that an adjective now, as well as a name?"

"She is kinda intense." He said, sensing that if he carried on, he might dig a hole too deep to climb out of.

"She is. But, that kind of intensity is the key to us winning Regionals."

"Hell yeah it is!" He grinned. "But you know what? Even though she's scarier than my mom sometimes, she's a lot less, you know…" He did some sort of angry robot impression, from what she could tell, so she just gave him a slightly confused smile. "…Psychotically bossy, since being friends with you three."

The girl in question came marching back and waved at Matt.

"Hey." Quinn said.

"Hey back. So, the four of us are going back to Santana's."

"But it's only-" She looked at her watch. "Ten."

"Not forever. So you can get changed. You're uncomfortable, and the breast plate can't be good for Baby."

Quinn was relieved, but then a thought crossed her mind. "Um, will you be getting changed too?"

"I don't think so, this is actually quite comfortable."

"Good. That you're comfortable, I mean."

Suddenly, there was an odd atmosphere in the room. Everyone went really quiet, and the silence was broken by some Spanish swearing. The blonde and the two people around her, turned to see Santana hurling abuse at Finn.

"What the fuck Moobs? You weren't invited."

"I was! Puck invited me."

Santana spun on her heel, picked up the closest thing to her, which was a motorcycle magazine, and screamed, "You are dead Puckerman, you hear me. Dead! Duh. Air. Duh." Then she proceeded to hit the holy hell out of him, and practically everyone took a picture.

"Rachel, can I talk to you?"

The Diva didn't move for a second, and then, as soberly as she could, ambled over to her ex-boyfriend. He took her aside into the corner of the room, although Quinn didn't see the point, it wasn't that big and there were a lot of people in here. Someone was bound to hear.

Finn was mumbling something and everyone around them all leaned in to hear what he was saying. It was like a scene from a drawing room farce. Rachel had her arms crossed just staring at him, waiting politely as he said whatever he was saying, then when she had her chance to talk, she wasn't as quiet. "No! You are not sorry in the slightest Finn Hudson. You're only sorry because I chose Quinn, and not you!"

"What the what?" The blonde asked out loud, and then turned to look at Matt, hoping he knew what that was about. He didn't.

"Noah had no right telling you, you were invited." Everyone then turned back to the boy, who was still being beaten with a two hundred and fifty page magazine. "So please leave."

"Oh come on, Rach."

"No! You don't get to insult me, or my friends, and you certainly don't get to give me an ultimatum and then expect to be forgiven because you say sorry. That isn't going to work anymore. And you can't throw Bop It at someone I care about and not expect me to be mad about it!" She thrust a finger in his face angrily.

"What?" He asked with a confused frown.

"Look Orca," Santana said as she sidled up to the singer, slapping the magazine in her hand threateningly. "We don't want you here. Some people probably do, but not me, not Rach, not Brit and certainly not Quinn. So, she asked you nicely, now you need to respect her wishes."

"I don't take orders from you. You're nothing but a…"

He didn't have a chance to finish his sentence, because Rachel kicked him in the shin. "No! Whatever you were going to say. No!" She wagged a finger at him again.

He left with slumped shoulders after being glared at by most of the Glee club.

"Total badassery." Santana grinned, and held up her hand to the Diva. "Don't leave me hanging Rach. A high five is in order."

Rachel lit up. "We're high fiving! I've never done that before." And she proved her point by missing the other girls' hand completely and hitting Puck in the head.

"Eh, that'll do." The taller girl laughed. "Come on Fabray, let's get you comfy. We'll be back in thirty minutes, tops."

Quinn was helped up by a friendly alien and she walked over to her friends. "I need a pee first."

"Of course you do."

* * *

"Your girlfriend's quite feisty, isn't she?"

"She's not my girlfriend."

"Not yet anyway. I'm starting to become sober." Izzy said, standing up. "Just give me a minute while I get myself a Jim Beam and Coke, and some Gaviscon."

"Mmm, what a delicious combination." Quinn chuckled.

"It truly is."

While the woman was gone, Quinn went through the photos, clicking passed the ones that were taken while they weren't around, and laughing at the one with Mercedes asleep in her cleavage. She was sure a princess didn't usually do that sort of thing. Then she came across one that was in the car, driving back to the house. Santana must've taken it, because it was in the back seat, and it didn't have a finger in the way. It was of her driving and looking over at Rachel in the passenger's seat. She remembered doing it, she was just so happy that she had been chosen, she hadn't even know that there had  _been_  a choice, but apparently her other friend did.

"Okay." Izzy put her glass on the table. "What's next?" She asked picking up the computer again.

"No idea."

"It's me!" The older Lopez sister got excited. "Aw, Rachel is so cute when she's confused. It's like seeing how a baby reacts to its first sneeze. Doesn't know what's going on."

"Yeah, that was really cute." Quinn laughed.

* * *

Quinn came downstairs and walked into the kitchen wearing her change of clothes and Santana took one look at her in the black dress she had been given and let out a quiet, yet oddly sarcastic laugh. "Jesus Fabray. You look like a cross between Trailer-Trash Barbie, and Wednesday Addams." The Latina gave the frowning pregnant girl a smirk, and Brittany clicked her fingers then poured out three glasses of bourbon.

"You're the one who gave it to me!"

"Yeah, but it's not my dress, it's from the fat side of my sisters closet." The taller brunette froze for a moment, picked up the glass that had just been poured and downed it in one go. "Never,  _EVER_ , tell her I told you that. Ever." She then went to the fridge and pulled out three bottles of beer. "I gotta say, I'm not sure I can actually feel my throat right now, but I strongly suggest, neither one of you drink that stuff. Let's just stick with beer."

Rachel picked up her glass and sniffed the liquid inside. "This smells like it could strip a wall." And she threw it down the sink then picked up the bottle Santana had placed on the counter. "Okey dokey Santana. So what were you yammering on about in the car?"

"I was not yammering!"

"You were." Quinn said as she took a seat at the dining table. "Take it from someone who is sober."

"Unreliable and bias witness, your honour." Santana banged the table three times with her bottle.

"Shut up, Lopez."

"I shall never shut up. But I have a plan, and I want all of you's help."

"Is it difficult, or time consuming?" Rachel asked, taking a seat next to the pregnant girl.

"Both!"

"Excellent. I'm in. What are we doing?"

"Hang on." The taller brunette said, and ran out of the room, coming back a few seconds later with a cardboard tube. "We're breaking into the school."

"Why?" The singer scrunched up her face.

"Balls!"

"There's no need to be like that."

"What?" Santana asked pushing everything that was on the table over to one side. "Balls! You know, for the Sbuck, that you saw in Figgins drawers." She laughed.

"Oh, sounds like fun." Rachel said as they watched the dark haired Cheerio put a map out onto the table.

"We are not breaking into the school." Quinn told them sternly.

"Why the hell not?"

"Because you're planning on doing some stealing, and  _that_ , is a felony!"

"You are such a bore, Juno."

Quinn didn't get her chance to refute this unjustified attack on her because Izzy walked through the door. The older woman half jogged, half danced into the kitchen, and took in the sight of the four teenagers in the room. When her eyes landed on Quinn she threw her arms up in the air and whooped. "Penblwydd hapus Cariad!" The blonde gave the older Lopez sister a smile and felt hands on her shoulders as Rachel stood up. "I yn gobeithio eich bod wedi cael diwrnod da."

Quinn only nodded her answer because she was so distracted by the singer, who stood right in front of Izzy and stared, mouth open, and then looked around the room completely bewildered, then back at the woman. Santana took this opportunity to take a photo.

"Uh, why is Rachel looking at me like that?"

"Oh thank God!" The Diva practically screamed. "I suddenly forgot how to understand English." She smiled with relief, then was overcome with panic again, and launched herself at Santana, whispering in the loudest possible voice. "Santana. Miss. Caffrey is in your house! We have to hide the evidence of illegal… things." She waved her arms about in the direction of the beer bottles. "Before she sees them!"

"Berry! Uh, comma, Rachel. See, I said your name, in a really weird way. I'm pretty sure she's already seen it."

"We are so busted!" The singer covered her face with her hands, and then pulled them away just as quickly. "Wait. Why is my Math teacher in your house?"

"Ana? You didn't tell Rachel about me? That upsets me." Izzy pouted.

The smaller brunette eyed her friend suspiciously. "What do I need to know?"

"She's my sister, Dumbass."

"Oh. Oh!" Rachel turned around and held out her hand. "It's nice to meet you."

"I've been your teacher for almost a year."

"Yes, that's right." The Diva stood to her full height. "I apologize, Miss. I'm not at my most, um, best, right now."

"No, I can see that."

"Why you back so early?" Santana asked her sister.

"I'm not here for long, just picking up some cash." Izzy took a few steps towards the hall, and stopped. "Do I want to know why the blueprints for William McKinley High School are out on my kitchen table?"

"We're breaking into school to steal balls." Brittany responded cheerfully.

"So much for having deniability." The woman shook her head with a smile, and walked out of the room.

"We are not breaking into the school." Quinn repeated herself.

"Not right now, obviously. We still got a party going on."

"Not now or ever."

"Such a prude." Santana curled her lip.

"I think you mean prudent."

"Nope. I know exactly what I mean. Come on, let's get going, you have your comfy clothes on now."

"Right." Quinn lifted herself up off the chair, and the singer came to her side wearing a lop-sided grin. "Hey." She said quietly.

"Hey back." Rachel linked her arm into the blondes' and they began to walk out of the house.

Santana yelled out, "See ya later!" to her sister, and followed everyone outside.

"I am not a Dumbass." The Diva raised her brow at the taller brunette as they walked to the car, and poked her in the side. She was rewarded with a particularly girlish giggle from the Badass Santana.

* * *

"Rachel threw my JB down the sink? That blows."

"Yes. That's the worst thing that happened tonight."

"I'm trying to ignore the rest." The woman yawned. "Sorry. I'm not trying to be rude." She said from behind her mouth.

"Because it'll go against that British reserve of yours?"

"No, it's because I'm super nice. Also, you're sitting on my bed for tonight, as I so  _kindly_  gave you, and your girlfriend,  _my_  bed for the night. That is proof, of my super nice-ness."

"Why didn't you tell me? I would've gone upstairs."

"My British politeness. And I do actually want to look at these pictures."

"For bribery purposes?"

"No." Izzy shook her head. "I like to see my sister happy. And you happy, and Brittany. And now Rachel too. You're her friends. You make her happy, and that makes me happy. It's hard to be the sister  _and_  the mom, I don't always know the person she is, but you do. You understand her more than I probably ever will, and I'm okay with that." She shrugged. "The four of you make a good team."

"I don't understand her more. I just understand her differently. You're her family, who she absolutely idolizes by the way."

"Maybe." The woman gave her a sad smile. "I think I just bummed myself out." She laughed softly.

"I'll go upstairs." Quinn closed the laptop. "We can look at these tomorrow."

"Okay. I'll see you later. Try to get some sleep young lady."

"Aye, aye, Cap'n." The blonde saluted, and heaved herself up of the sofa. When she was up, she looked at Izzy and felt she should say something reassuring, but didn't know what. So she just said. "Goodnight." And went up to the room Rachel was in.

She sighed deeply when she saw the smaller girl asleep on her back, lying diagonally in the bed, with all her limbs sticking out like a starfish.

The blonde sat down on a patch of free space of the mattress, and brushed hair out of Rachel's face, and whispered, "You know what Rachel Berry? I love you."

 


	16. Sixteen

It was ten minutes after Quinn had put on her night clothes and managed to move Rachel in the bed so she had enough room to lie in it- when it started to rain. She sighed when she heard it hit the window, and she extracting herself from the bed to look outside.

She liked the sound of the rain hitting glass, but then again, she liked the rain, period. There was something about it that stirred up romantic notions inside of her; it always had, even before her recently renewed passion for books.

It was still dark, and the sporadic street lights only illuminated the occasional parked car and passing animal. If this were a city there would still be people out in the street, but the suburbs tended to be pretty quiet. Only once did she ever catch anything exciting happen at this time of the morning, and that was when one of her parents neighbours found out her husband had cheated on her, and threw out all of his clothes. The whole neighbourhood talked about it for months.

She preferred it when there was a storm. She and her sister would go outside while the rain came crashing down, and the thunder and lightening was close. They would lift up their arms and their faces to the sky, and let themselves get soaked to the skin. Judy and Richard disapproved of this, like they did most things she and Cassie actually enjoyed doing.

God she missed doing things like that, she stopped because she was told it was childish, but now she wondered if that really mattered.

She walked away from the window, and picked up the pickles she'd managed to sneak upstairs with her, and she chuckled evilly at her ability to get away with food theft while she was pregnant, then she went to her backpack and took out the book she'd been trying to get through for the last month, and walked back to where she'd been and sat down on the window seat and opened the jar.

She'd managed to get through four pages when she heard- "Are you eating those things again?"

Quinn turned to look at a sleepy Rachel and frowned. "Did the smell wake you up?"

"Yup." The singer nodded.

"Seriously? I spent like, five minutes trying to wake you up, and it took me another five to move you so I could get into bed, and I got nothing from you, and the smell of vinegar is the thing that brings you out of the drink induced coma!"

"I'm sorry." Rachel pouted as she sat up.

"I'm not angry at you, Doof." The blonde smiled as she closed the book and walked over to her friend.

"Oh, okay." The brunette smiled back at her happily, watching her every move as she made her way to sit next to her.

The way Rachel was looking at her now was just like the way she had all those weeks ago, when she had taken her home after the painkiller incident. But unlike then, those soulful eyes didn't make her uncomfortable, they made her feel wanted, and cared for.

The moment she took a seat on the bed, Rachel got out of it, and pulled off her pyjama top over her head then threw it on the floor. "I'm warm. Need a thinner top"

"Mmm hmm." Quinn squeaked, and turned her head away  _'Oh God, oh God, oh God, oh God. Don't look, don't look, don't look.'_  She rubbed her hands over her face and tried to erase the image of Rachel in just her bra. It didn't seem to work. This was clearly a sight that was going to be burned into her memory like a tattoo. And if she was honest with herself, it was something she was going enjoy recalling whenever she wanted to. And at that thought, she bit her lip to hide her smile, even though the smaller girl couldn't see her.

She felt the bed dip, and risked a peek. The brunette was wearing a white ripped-v-neck cotton tee that hugged her in all the right places. And it looked familiar. "Where did you get that from?" She asked.

"Santana gave it to me; she said it might get warm." Rachel looked down then looked at the blonde. "Why? Is there something wrong with it?"

"Nope." Quinn grinned.

"Good." The singer seemed pleased by this, and pointed to the window. "It's raining outside."

"I know."

"Don't you think it's romantic?"

Quinn cocked her head slightly, and frowned. Maybe Rachel really  _is_  a little bit psychic. "I guess." She shrugged, not really understanding why she answered the question like that.

"You guess?" The singer had that crazed determined face she got on occasion, which was usually the led up to a very long rant.

The blonde held her hands up. "Okay, okay. Yes, I do think it's romantic. Happy?"

"Only if you mean it." Rachel said with a sulk.

"I do. Now, can we go to sleep? I'm actually feeling tired now."

The Diva gave her a lop-sided grin. "Just give me a minute." She said, and stood up, walked over to the window then opened it up wide.

"Rach? What are you doing?"

"I just need to feel the rain on my face." Was the reply. And Rachel put her arms on the window seat, and stuck her head out.

Quinn got up; Rachel was obviously still drunk, and she thought she should probably keep a close eye on her, just in case she fell out or something. "That sounds nice." She said, and mirrored her friends' position, lifting her face to the sky, and closing her eyes.

The rain was neither cold nor warm, but the sensation from Rachel's bare arm pressed against hers made her feel like she was on fire. "When I was a kid, I never wanted to get married." She sensed the other girl shifting, and felt hot breath on her neck. She swallowed hard. "It was the whole idea of kissing someone in front of hundreds of people." She let out a soft chuckle. "Yes, in my young childhood imagination hundreds of people were there, including Faith Hill, Destiny's Child and Jessica Simpson. Don't ask." Rachel's laughter grazed over her skin, and she could feel her heart pounding.

"Does it still terrify you?"

"No."

"Why?"

"Because when I was seven I didn't know what being in love was like. And I don't want a hundred people there, I only want six."

"Which six? Am I one of the six?"

Quinn lowered her head and turned to look at Rachel. There was barely an inch between them, and the intensity in the singers' eyes caught her off guard for a moment. She kept the contact, and slowly moved her hand to wipe the raindrops from the girls' face. "I don't think I could do anything without you from now on." She answered, keeping her hand on Rachel's cheek.

The brunette smiled, and it was an odd smile. "How do you keep doing that?" She asked in a whisper.

"Doing what?" Quinn's voice caught in her throat, and the question came out like someone had stolen her breath for just a second. She knew she should move, they were too close, all of her self control was hanging on by a single thread, but it was battling the part of her that said all she needed to do was lean forward, just a little.

"Make me feel like I'm home."

Quinn let out a sob, and wrapped her arms around the other girl, holding her as close as she could. "I didn't know I did." They stayed like that for some time, until she pulled back and cupped Rachel's face. "I…" She stopped herself from say those three words. "You're my home too." She said, and lifted herself up, kissing the smaller girl on the forehead. "We should get some sleep."

Rachel nodded and stood up straight, holding out her hand to the blonde. When they were both upright, the singer kept hold of Quinn, and with her other hand, closed the window.

The pregnant girl was led back to the bed, and she climbed in, waiting for Rachel to join her. The smaller girl snuggled up to her and dragged the blanket further up, then she resting her head on a shoulder, and placed her hand on the swollen stomach.

"Rach?" The blonde asked into a mass of brown hair.

"Yeah?"

"I'm really glad you chose me and not Finn."

"There was never a choice to make." The Diva said, and rubbed the blondes' belly softly, her voice getting quieter. "You're my serenity."

Quinn felt the other girls' breathing slow down and she knew that Rachel had fallen asleep. She closed her eyes; too tired to think about how life had a tendency to surprise you, too spent to think about how this had been the best day of her life. The only thing she thought about, as sleep finally consumed her, was that she brought peace to the girl she loved.

 


	17. Seventeen

The blood curdling scream that filled the entire house made both Quinn, and Rachel shoot upright in bed. Quinn felt her heart pound with panic at hearing Santana's obvious terror and Rachel grabbed hold of her hand. However, it soon became apparent when she heard the very long stream of swear words directed towards the older Lopez sister that the doll heads had been found.

She relaxed, and collapsed back down on the bed.

"Shouldn't we go and see what's wrong?" Rachel asked; her eyes were wide with concern.

"Nothing's wrong." The blonde replied, and grabbed the back of the singers' top, pulling her back down. "Santana found the decapitated heads is all."

"Not real ones though? Right?" Sometimes the blonde wondered exactly what went on in her friends' head, for her to even need to ask the question.

She put her arm around the smaller girl, and brought her close. "No, not real ones, just doll heads."

"That's a relief." Rachel sighed, and squeezed the pregnant girl tightly. "I'm feeling slightly nauseous."

"Don't you dare be sick on me!" The blonde chided playfully.

"I never would." The Diva laughed, and nuzzled herself up against her friends' neck.

Quinn tensed for a moment before she became wholly relaxed with their position.  _This is definitely going to be a thing from now on_. She thought. Having the sensation of Rachel's breath on her neck was so very…  _Intimate_. She closed her eyes, and linked her fingers with the hand that was draped over her middle.

It was such a cliché, but Quinn never could've known happiness like this existed, and it made her want to shout it from the rooftop. She wasn't going to though. Well, probably not anyway.

There was the distinct sound of stomping from the next room that then led out into the hall, and with a heavy swing, the door crashed open. Quinn looked up to see Santana holding up a doll head ready to throw. "She's downstairs Lopez."

There were several angry grunts in reply, and the door was slammed shut.

"Uh-oh!" Rachel chuckled, " _Somebody_  is a little bit annoyed."

"I think that sums it up pretty well. Just have to wait for the incoherent shouting start." The blonde started counting, and got up to six. "-And there it is!"

The brunette laughed again, causing yet another shiver to the pregnant girl. "I can't even tell what she's saying."

They both listened to the tirade of angry noises, only catching the word 'Bitch' before the hysterical laughter from the older sister started. "I really hope that neither one of them has some sort of underlying heart defect. The crap they pull on each other gets worse and worse."

"Why decapitated dolls heads?"

"Santana had a dream once about it, or something. I can't really remember." She felt Rachel shift slightly, and looked down to see her concentrating on a spot on the wall. "You alright? You know where the bathroom is if you're going to throw up."

"No, it's not that. I just remembered the dreams I had last night."

"Oh? Were they good?"

"One of them was very nice, but the other one involved Santana, Brittany and myself having a shoot out with the mafia in the choir room, which was actually a train car, and we were protecting you and Baby, and then Noah ducked under the bullets that were flying around, because it was time for him to go home."

"Huh. That was odd. I wonder what it could mean?"

"I shouldn't think there was any deeper meaning to it. Only that you have friends who want to protect you, and Noah likes to go home on time."

Quinn laughed. "Yeah. Probably. We do know that both of those things are true. I dreamt that I gave birth to five bees the size of footballs."

"Aw, bees are cute."

"Not giant ones." The blonde answered, resting her cheek on the top of the singers head. "What was your nice one then?"

"Hmm?"

"You said you had a nice dream too."

"Oh, yes, well, I don't really remember that much about it. Only that it was nice."

"You are such a fibber Rachel Berry."

"No I'm not!" The Diva answered petulantly.

Quinn felt disappointed, but she couldn't make her friend tell her. It was just a stupid dream anyway, not important at all. And yet… "Okay, if you don't want to tell me."

"It's not that I  _don't_  want to tell you!" Rachel said as she pushed herself up onto her elbow. "I- You-." She let out a frustrated sigh, and then gave the blonde a small smile. "I don't know how it might sound to you, that's all."

This got Quinn's attention. "Try me."

The brunette held her gaze for several silent seconds, before she lay back down. "There was a white cottage, and I was making bread, and you were baking a cake. When I looked out of the window, there was a huge garden, with lots of flowers and an oak tree, and on the tree was a swing that Dad and Daddy were pushing Baby on, but they didn't call her that, they called Lily. Then you stood next to me watching what was going on outside, and you hugged me. Some other things happened that are a bit hazy, and then Aunt Santana and Aunt Brittany came over and shot Nerf guns at my Dad's. Everyone was happy."

"I don't know why that was so hard to tell me." The blonde whispered with a smile on her face. "That sounded perfect."

"It was." Rachel squeezed her gently again, and the rolled onto her back. "I think I need more sleep." She announced as she rubbed her temples.

"Okay." Quinn said as she threw the blanket off herself. "I'm going to see what I can eat." She leaned over to the singer and consciously kissed her on the cheek that was as near to those full lips as she was brave enough to venture close to. "Sweet dreams."

Rachel beamed at her affectionately. "Thank you. And try and eat something healthy." She added with a pointing finger.

"Is cold pizza healthy?"

"No."

"Oh well." The pregnant girl shrugged, and stood up. "I shall see you soon." And she winked before leaving the room.

There wasn't much Quinn thought about as she walked downstairs, only utter joy. There was a small voice inside of her that told her she was getting her hopes up; that she was turning everything Rachel had said into something she wanted it to be. But she beat that little voice with a club, and told it to shut the hell up.

She heard Izzy's voice, and she realized the woman was standing by the front door, holding it open, and talking to the cat.

"You see." The older Lopez sister said, waving her arm. "It's raining this side of the house too. I really don't know why you expected the weather to be different here than from the back door. You would think after all these years you would know this. Oh, don't look at me like that; it's not my fault it's raining."

"Just nudge him out with your foot." Quinn said, and Izzy frowned deeply.

"I'm not doing that! He's old, and wobbly." The cat stayed in the doorway, still indecisive. "I'll just leave it open. He'll go when he's mentally prepared himself."

"He's not a person you know." The blonde told the woman as she bent down and gave the moggy a pet. "Isn't that right, Mr. Grumpyton."

"That's not his name. Why is it that you look so particularly… self satisfied right now? You couldn't have had more than five hours sleep."

"No reason." She grinned.

"Oh God, this is a Rachel thing isn't it? I don't want to know."

"I wasn't planning on telling you. Is that pizza still around?"

"On top of the fridge." Izzy pointed to the kitchen. "I got you a large one of your usual."

"Thanks." She said, and left the woman standing by the door.

Quinn thought about Rachel's dream as she grabbed her breakfast. The other girl said that everyone was happy, that they were a family. As she took her first bite, she decided that she should have the talk with the Berry's that she'd been putting off, and as soon as possible.

"You've got tomato sauce on your chin." Izzy told her as she took a slice of Quinn's pizza, before the blonde could stop her.

Quinn wiped a hand over her chin and smiled. "Did I get it?"

"You did."

As the woman turned away from her, she saw a red mark oh her forehead. "What happened to your head?"

Izzy went to look at herself in the metal of the oven. "Ah. Yeah. That's from when Ana hurled the heads at me. It's the fake blood. It turns out, that it isn't that easy to wash off. That's quite the design flaw." She said as she turned back to face the blonde, and then opened up the laptop on the counter. "You promised we could look at more photos.

"Right now?" Quinn asked, and walked over to get the ketchup.

"Ana went back to bed, and I don't know when everyone else will be up." The woman stuck out her bottom lip.  _"Please!"_

"Uch. Fine. But don't try and stop me eating my food." She huffed.

"Trying to stop you eating, would be as dangerous as trying to take an antelope from a lion."

"I think I resent that!"

"Fair enough. It is however, very accurate."

Quinn growled as she grabbed the computer and brought up the album she'd put on there a few hours before, then she pushed it back over to Izzy. "Start looking."

The older Lopez sister rolled her eyes and began clicking.

The pregnant girl let her get on with it, and carried on eating her food while she waited for the woman to find a picture that interested her. She knew it could take a while, as there were quite a few of everyone else's to get through.

As she waited, she thought.

Almost three weeks. That's how long it had been. Almost three weeks since Rachel Berry had become her unexpected white knight. And in that time, so much had happened. It wasn't the first time she'd thought about all the things that she and her friends had been through, and it certainly wouldn't be the last. It was just that it truly amazed her when she did think about it. In nineteen days she had gone from barely standing to be in the same room as Rachel, to loving her, and wondering what kind of wedding they'll have. Would it be white? Would it be simple or extravagant? Would it be here, or New York? Maybe even somewhere warm, like Hawaii. Would Santana get so drunk she starts hurling abuse at almost all of the guests? These were questions that she'd asked herself.

She heard Izzy laugh, and when she looked over to the laptop, she laughed too. "That would be the first of many moments last night, when three of us thought we were going to jail. Brittany was just having a good time."

"Is this outside the school?"

Quinn nodded. "We were waiting for the security guy to walk by, and B pulled out her phone, and it has an automatic flash."

"The three of you do have a certain 'Deer caught in headlights' look about you. And everyone is here in my house, so I have to guess that you didn't get caught."

"Obviously. Although I don't know how we didn't get caught. Do you know what's less inconspicuous than one heavily pregnant- and three drunk high school students breaking into a school?" The blonde looked at Izzy expectantly, but didn't give the woman a chance to answer. "I'll tell you. Three drunk high school students singing the theme tune to 'Kim Possible' breaking into a school, while the heavily pregnant one freaks out."

"You learn something new everyday."

* * *

"Oh my God! You live so far away from school, Santana." Rachel groaned as they walked along the road.

"No I don't. You've just been zigzagging this entire time. It's taking us twice as long. And you walked into that mailbox."

"And you said sorry to it." Brittany laughed.

" _And."_ The taller brunette held her finger up as she had another thought. "You made us go to the ATM because you decided you wanted to give my sister money for the pizza. And when you got the cash, you just had to say thank you to the 'Magic Money Machine'."

"I was only being polite." The singer gave her friend a baffled look.

"It's a machine; it doesn't care about common courtesy. It's also  _not_  magic."

"Might be. You don't know." The Diva answered irritably then started to veer off to the left, and Brittany ran after her, pulling her back on track.

"The world really is screwed." Quinn said to Santana after the taller blonde had got Rachel singing 'You Spin Me Round'

"Why?"

"Because the two of you worked out your differences. World domination is not long now."

"Ah, that's right. You know, at the time, I really didn't think it was going to happen, so didn't take you seriously."

"And now?"

"Yeah, me and Rach," The girl wagged her finger back and forth between where the Diva was walking, and herself. "Totally taking over the world."

"Like Pinky and the Brain."

"Except, we'll succeed."

"I don't doubt that for a second. If you do it within the near future, can you do something about Jesse?"

"Oh shit! I forgot about him." Santana laughed. "I'm pretty sure Rachel is losing interest."

"What makes you say that?"

"She hasn't mentioned him all night. And I've seen her looking at her phone when it beeps, and she pulls this sort of, irritated face."

"That could've been Finn."

"After what happened earlier? Not a chance. He's a coward of the highest order." Santana looked over to Quinn with a smirk. "You got to be happy, she chose you though."

"You know." The blonde said with a non-committal shrug. But her almost blindingly bright smile, said everything the brunette needed to know.

"Please! If you weren't such a lard-ass right now, you'd totally be doing a jaunty jig of happiness."

"Yup."

The two of them found their attention caught when they saw Rachel and Brittany spinning around in circles, in the middle of the street, and after about thirty seconds they both stopped, and fell on their asses. "You see those two girls, right there?" Santana asked.

"Yeah."

"They're our soul mates." The brunette exhaled loudly.

Quinn clamped her hand over her mouth to try and silence her laughter, while her friend grumbled about having to help up two drunken people on her own.

It only took the a few minutes to get to the school, once Santana had grabbed hold of Rachel and Brittany's shoulders, and essentially guided them to their destination. The taller blonde said she felt like she was pulling Santa along on Christmas eve, and the rest of the walk was spent discussing the similarity between Santa, Satan and Santana. The Latina scowled the entire time.

Once they arrived at the building, everyone stayed as close to the wall as possible. Quinn figured there was no point in trying to dissuade the three girls from going through with this utterly stupid, and completely  _illegal_  plan. She'd been attempting that for the last four hours, and had failed miserably. Now, all she was wondering was why she was here. There were still a few people left in 'The Barn', she could've stayed there. Or, she could've gone back to the house; enjoyed a nice cup of cocoa, and watched some late night crap on TV. There really was, absolutely no reason why she should be here. Okay, so it was Rachel that had asked her. And yes, fine, the girl had been hugging her, and the smaller girls head, may have been in the general area of her chest.

Damn it.

_I'm such a boy._

The three girls in front of her ducked down, and a flash of annoyance crossed her face when she realized she couldn't duck; she had to get onto her knees and sort of, shuffle along. "What's going on?" She whispered, swatting away the part of the bush that was poking her leg.

"We're waiting for the guard to walk by."

"I didn't even know the school had one."

"Izzy says that Principle Figgins brought him in because of some thefts."

Quinn let out a derisive snort. "No there hasn't. Sue's been misappropriating school property, like she's been doing for years."

"Everyone knows that, except him." Santana shrugged.

"We're totally like super-spies right now." Brittany said happily. "I'm taking a photo."

"What? No!" Three panicked voices almost yelled.

But before anyone could grab the blonde's phone, the taller Cheerio said "Say  _CHEESE_."

* * *

"Chocolate willy?" Izzy asked, holding out a cellophane bag.

Quinn peered inside to look at the small penis shaped confections, and delved in. "I will thank you." She smiled. "Just out of curiosity, why do you have them?"

"When you get older; you will find that after a night out with your friends, you'll wake up with things that you didn't start the night with. For instance; a small bag of chocolate willies that you acquired by crashing some woman's Hen Party."

"When I grow up, I want to be just like you."

"Shut up." The older woman huffed, and threw the bag next to the blonde. "You can have them all. Chocolate really isn't my friend when I'm hung over."

" _Sweet!"_ Quinn grinned, and proceeded to put the chocolate on top of the pizza. Much to the dismay of Izzy, who looked like she was going green around the edges.

"I'll just carry on looking at these while you eat your concoction." The older Lopez sister winced, as she pulled the computer closer.

"Okey dokey!" The pregnant girl replied with her mouth full, and wandered over to the refrigerator to find herself something to drink. When she'd got a bottle of water, and sat down on the kitchen stool; her phone buzzed, and she flipped it open to see that she had a message from Mike.

_Hey Quinn, can you come over to practice at 3 instead of 1?_

She hadn't even remembered that they'd arranged a rehearsal for their Glee song until just now.

**_Sure. Everything okay?_ **

_Man, I feel rough as ten bears after last night. My dad is totally suspicious._

She snorted.  ** _Tell you what, you can blame me for not being on time, and if you want to make it a bit later, that's okay too : )_**

_You are like my favourite person in the world right now Q! See you later._

She closed her phone and looked over to Izzy, who turned the laptop to face her, and pointed at the screen. "Are those my keys in Figgins' door?"

" _Noooo."_ The blonde drawled.

"Have they been put back where they belong?"

" _Yeah."_ She grinned.

* * *

"Why does this place need so many keys?" Santana growled as she tried the sixth key in the lock.

"Security." Rachel shrugged.

"Could we please hurry this up?" Quinn whispered angrily.

"Keep your pants on, Fabray."

"No! I'm not hardened criminals like you three. I don't have the experience of breaking and entering."

"Hey!" The taller brunette turned to look at her. "There has been no 'Breaking' only 'Entering' I'll have you know."

"You think I'm a hardened criminal?" Rachel asked the blonde with a grin.

"This is not something to be proud of, Rach."

"Stop being such a Debbie Downer, Tubbers. Really, the only thing we're doing wrong is being in the school when we shouldn't be here. What we're taking, are things that belong to us."

"Consider me 'Still unconvinced'"

"Whatever." Santana shook her head, and went on to the seventh key.

Nobody spoke for a minute, and Quinn took in the eeriness of the school at two o'clock in the morning. In the dark and the quiet, it seemed like the beginning of a scene in a horror movie. And honestly, regardless of her objections, it was all quite thrilling being here while it was like this.

When Rachel came over to stand right next to her, she took hold of the other girls' hand. "You alright?" She asked.

The Diva nodded. "If you want to leave, we can. I'm sure Santana will understand."

"No she won't. She's the least understanding person on the whole planet."

Rachel looked up at her with an impish smirk. "You're exaggerating, but only a little."

"Seriously." The taller brunette said, as she tried the tenth key. "You two have conversations like no one else is around. I'm like, a foot away from you."

"You're assuming we don't know this." Quinn flicked the girl on her arm.

"Ow. No I'm not. I'm simply pointing it out. Because it's weird."

"Yeah? Well, you're weird."

They all spun around when they heard running footsteps, and saw Brittany heading straight for them. "We gotta hide!" The taller Cheerio explained, and grabbed hold of Santana's arm; dragging her towards their designated hidey place and Quinn yanked Rachel to theirs.

Once they were in the janitor's closet, the singer decided that it was the perfect time to hum the 'Mission Impossible' theme tune.

"Rach? I love your voice and everything, but if you don't stop humming, you're gonna land us in juvie, and we're both too delicate to be anyone's bitches!"

"Sorry." The Diva chuckled quietly, and Quinn felt, rather than saw -as it was so dark in the tiny room- arms wrapping themselves around her, and yet again she had a face in her boobs.

While telling herself to not freak the hell out, she put her arms over the other girls' shoulders, and pulled her in. "I gotta say," She whispered. "You are very huggable, Rachel Berry."

"I think you mean; Berry huggable."

She snorted a laugh, "I guess I do. Yeah."

They stayed like that for some time. She wasn't sure how long exactly, it could've been seconds, or minutes. Her watch wasn't one that glowed in the dark, and right now, she really wished it did. She supposed that there were worse positions she could be in. When the door opened, her heart practically jumped out of her chest.

"You two coming out of the closet, or what?" Santana grinned.

Rachel released her hold on the blonde, and nodded. "We're all clear now?"

The taller brunette nodded. "Yes siree."

"Super." She smiled, "Has Brittany gone back to look out?"

"Yup."

"Okay." And the Diva bounded back over to the Principles door.

As Quinn walked out of the closet she punched her friend on the arm. "Not funny, Lopez."

"I beg to differ. Repressed homosexuality is hysterical." Santana wiggled her eyebrows, and rubbed the spot where she'd just been hit. "Are your knuckles made of steel or something?"

"Yes. Can we get on with our current task now please?"

"Yeah." Her friend sighed, and they walked back to the door. "Okay, now which ones did I already try?" The taller brunette lifted up the bunch of keys and stared at them intently.

"You have got to be kidding me!" Quinn snatched the keys away from the other girl and flicked through them. "Did you try the one that says PF on it?"

Santana leaned in, and squinted at the small piece of metal the blonde is holding between her finger and thumb, and then she groaned "Aw, fuck me!"

The blonde let out a long breath, and put the key in the door, turning it, and heard the click. "I am going to stab you with these things when we're done here."

The dark haired cheerleader ignored this comment, and walked into the office like she'd just found Narnia. "Rach? Which drawer?"

"Bottom."

Quinn leaned on the doorway and watched her friend pull on the drawer with caution. "It's open!" And when she saw Santana's face literally light up, she stopped being angry. The taller brunette pulled out a shoe box and held it up for the two girls to see. "Someone text B, tell we got 'em, and we're outta here."

"I'll do it." Rachel pulled out her phone, made an annoyed face, and then spent several second grumbling about how texting wasn't as easy while drunk.

Less than a minute later the four of them were together, and yet again, Brittany took a photo with the brightest flash known to mankind.

"Leg it." Was Santana's advice. And they did.

* * *

"So how many balls were there?"

"I think, around sixty."

"Wow. That, is a lot of balls!"

"I know." Quinn nodded. "I'm still not sure if it was worth it."

"I'm sure it was." Izzy shrugged. "You know you're going to have to change the name of your stupid game with Rachel now on board."

"Crap. I hadn't thought of that." Quinn stared at her last pizza slice as tried to come up with a different name. "Sbucker?"

"Rubsq?"

"Squirb? Brusq? Why do none of our names begin with a damn vowel?"

"I call Ana; Ana."

"But we don't! We haven't had a meeting in months, I think it's time. There are many things to discuss."

"You lot are nerds. And gay. Gay nerds."

Quinn glared at the woman for a moment. "You have a problem with that?"

"I know that it's not acceptable in high school society; I mean that kind of person gets slushied on a regular basis, or worse, but Quinn, I'm a math teacher, nerd is in my blood. Of course I don't have a problem with it. In fact, I revere it."

The blonde laughed. "I had to check."

"You know you can always be yourself here." Izzy said, with a serious tone.

"I know. Why do you think I've spent so much time here over the years?"

"Alright then. Now, don't take this the wrong way, but I need you to get out of my kitchen."

"Making lunch?" The blonde asked hopefully.

"It's Sunday. Of course!" The woman smiled, and ushered the girl out of her domain.

Quinn left the kitchen and went back upstairs. She missed Rachel; she wanted to see her, even though she was asleep. When she got to the room, she made herself comfortable on the bed and watched the rhythmic rise and fall of the other girl's chest for some time then she picked up her book, and began the arduous task of reading the crappiest piece of words on paper, that ever existed. But it was the only thing she could think to do while she waited for lunch to be ready, and for Rachel to wake up.

These were the two things that consumed her these days, and she was never left wanting for either.

 


	18. Eighteen

The delicious aroma of food cooking was making Quinn's stomach grumble, and she patted her belly with her book and told it to shush. It usually took Izzy three hours to make lunch on a Sunday, and it had only been an hour and a half since she threw Quinn out of the kitchen. The blonde smacked her lips in anticipation, and went back to reading.

She didn't mind getting on with the book, she was over half way through it and the knowledge that it would be over soon alleviated the feeling that she was wading through literary tar. Although, her amiable mood towards the book probably had something to do with her current position; lying down in bed, with Rachel tucked up cosy in the nook of her arm, and the singers hand resting itself on her bump, while the blonde was stroking the other girls' hair. The Diva had rolled into that position not long after Quinn had had to move from a sitting position because her back ached, and it was probably the only time she was happy to be in pain.

"Good morning."

Quinn looked up to see Santana and Brittany standing in the doorway of the bedroom; both of them wearing incredibly dopey smiles. "You two are finally up." She said quietly, and checked to see if Rachel had stirred.

"We decided to have a nice, relaxing Sunday." Brittany said as she rested her chin on the taller brunettes shoulder. "We've been looking at the rainbow outside for ages."

The pregnant girl turned to face the window, and smiled. "I hadn't even noticed that."

"Maybe you should start paying closer attention to things around you." Santana said, and Quinn turned back to her friend and gave her a curious look. She was clearly missing something.

"What does that mean?"

"Nothing." The brunette quirked her brow. "Or maybe everything. Who is to say?"

"You're being really weird right now." The blonde frowned.

"I know. My brain feels like it's covered in cotton wool; everything is all muffled." The taller brunette shrugged.

"Hang over?"

"Yeah. And super tired."

"No caffeine!" Quinn warned. "You need a detox from that stuff."

"Bossy Boots."

"Caffeine junkie."

"God, even my name calling is sub-par today." The Latina groaned. "When did you wake up?"

"Since you screamed the house down."

"But, that was like, hours ago. Have you been in here this entire time?"

"Izzy threw me out of the kitchen. I didn't know where else to go."

Santana smirked, looking between Quinn and Rachel. "Couldn't have gone into the lounge and watched some TV or anything? You just had to come back in here, didn't you? So, have you made a creepy top ten list of adorable things Rachel does when she's asleep?"

"No! I only got up to four." She grinned, and her friend had to stifle a chuckle.

"You want company?" Brittany asked. "Me and San were going downstairs to see if we can find something good to watch, but we can stay here if you want."

"I'm pretty sure Quinn's happy, exactly where she is, B."

"Because she's feeling up Rachel?"

This time Santana couldn't quieten her laugh, especially at seeing Quinn's panicked expression. "Enjoy yourself Tubbers." She said as she took the taller blondes hand, and pulled her out of the room.

"You know, if anything, I'm the one feeling  _you_  up." Rachel mumbled onto the blonde's shoulder.

Quinn stiffened. "How long have you been awake?"

"Long enough to know I do four adorable things when I sleep." The brunette raised herself, and smiled at her friend. "I can't believe you think I only do four cute things! I came up with at least seven for you."

The pregnant girl eyed the Diva for a moment, and all she saw was a girl with messy hair, and an impish glint. "Well, I was reading for some of the time." She relaxed, and brushed the hair out of Rachel's face. "What's my seven then?"

"I am not telling you that, until you come up with another three for me."

"But, you're awake now."

"Then I suppose you could make a creepy top ten list of adorable things I do, when I'm awake."

"Have you made one of those for me?"

"Perhaps." Rachel grinned, and collapsed back down, nuzzling herself in the blondes' shoulder.

Quinn felt confused. It  _seemed_  like Rachel was flirting. She knew  _she_  was, but Rachel? Was this just how Rachel was? She thought about how the singer behaved with Santana and Brittany, because they both brought out different traits of her personality. When she was around Brittany, she saw the wonder in all the little things that people take for granted when they get older. Like watching an endless Slinky on an escalator, or pretending to be a cowboy bear. Santana on the other hand – apart from leading her into a life of crime – somehow brought out a different kind of confidence in Rachel. Not the one they'd been subjected to in Glee; the one that Quinn thought was really how Rachel was until she got to know the girl – but a comfortable one. The nervous energy was slowly disappearing, and was being replaced by something else. Something more, positive. It was weird to think that the grumpiest, snarkiest, most aggressive person she knew could bring out something so… Serene

Then she thought about how Rachel was with her. Emotional and physical. But then, Quinn was the same way with Rachel. Maybe she thought they were like sisters? No, that can't be right, that was definitely flirting. Right? Quinn had been flirted with before, many, many times in fact, and this was very similar, however, it had been quite some time since anyone had showed her any interest.

God damn, this was frustrating.

The blonde decided to see if her friend did the possible-flirty thing in front of people. Preferably Santana and/ or Brittany, because the idea of asking the Mr. Berry's if they thought their daughter was flirting with her was just, wrong.

That little voice in her head that told her not to get her hopes up was singing the same old tune, and this time Charlie handed her the club to beat it with.

"Can I ask you a question?"

"Of course." Rachel answered; rolling onto her back, but still stayed close to the blonde.

"You know that dream you had?" Quinn asked, and let her hand start playing with the singers' hair.

"The one with the epic shoot-out?"

"No. The other one. The one where we're a family." She wondered if she should be asking about this. It really was only a dream, and people come up with lots of things when they dream. Things they don't want.

But then again…

Rachel flipped onto her stomach, and lifted herself up onto her arms; still maintaining the closeness. The blonde, whose fingers were still entwined in the other girls' hair, moved her hand down to Rachel's neck, and pulled her forward. The singer rested her forehead onto Quinn's and she felt the warm breath of a contented sigh roll across her face. "Whatever you decide, you'll always have us. Dad, daddy and I have talked about this."

"You have?"

"Of course. We talked about it before you came to live with us."

"Even if I decide to keep Baby?"

" _Whatever_  you decide. We didn't invite you into our home with the intention of it being just a temporary solution. We did it with the knowledge that there may, very well be a tiny human in our lives very soon. We haven't brought it up, because we were waiting for you to be ready. And we didn't want to seem like we were pressuring you into anything."

"How do your Dad's feel about the possibility of having a baby in the house? I mean, they aren't my Dad's, but you know, they've become family. Are they just accepting this? Or, I mean…" Quinn struggled with her words. She felt nervous, and a little excited.

"Quinn. My Dad's have been secretly buying baby clothes and stuffed animals, and things to baby-proof the house with. They don't know, I know." The singer laughed softly. "But they've already become doting grandparents. I probably shouldn't have told you that. It comes very close to pressuring you."

The blonde traced her fingers down the back of Rachel's neck slowly, letting herself enjoy the warmth of the soft skin, and then she placed her hand on the other girls' cheek. "And what about you?" She asked quietly.

"I may have bought some baby clothes myself." The brunette let out an embarrassed laugh.

Quinn placed the book down next to her on the bed, and put her now free hand on Rachel's other cheek. "You know, for a long time, I thought that getting pregnant was the worse thing that could've ever happened to me. I lost everything that I thought mattered to me; like being the popular head cheerleader, and its only been in the last few weeks that I realized I didn't really lose that much, not in comparison to what I've gained. My parents disowning me hurt like hell, but now I have a  _home_  to live in, with you and your Dad's, and not just a house. So thinking about it; getting pregnant was actually, the best thing that happened to me." She moved her arms to wrap them around the singer. "Perhaps we could talk to your Dad's later?"

"I think that's a good idea." Rachel nodded, and leaned in to kiss Quinn on the cheek. "Now if you'll excuse me, I need to have my own, very important conversation." She gave the blonde a wicked smile, and shimmied out of her arms, and down the bed; resting her head on Quinn's bump. "Hello Baby!" The blonde chuckled softly and linked finger's with Rachel's hand, which was resting on her stomach. "So there has been an update since our most recent discussion-"

"Recent?" Quinn asked in an amused tone. "How many have you had?"

"A few." Rachel answered haughtily, and gave the pregnant girl another grin. "Normally I wait until you're asleep. A jack-hammer couldn't wake you once you're out."

"Hmm. Well, I didn't know that. Can I join in with this conversation?"

"I suppose you could."

"Awesome, you can proceed with your discussion now."

"Thank you, that's very kind." Rachel said sarcastically, and turned her attention back to the bump. "So, anyway, the possibility of you living with us has increased quite a bit, by my calculations, around twenty percent. Which is good, although your Mom might change her mind when she realizes that she and I will probably have to share my room."

"We will? I don't mind that." Quinn sucked in her cheeks to stop herself from smiling like a lunatic.

"As it turns out Baby, that little problem isn't a problem at all. Everything is hunky dory on that front. Another thing I would like to talk about is your name. Now, we can't keep calling you Baby, because people will either be mean to you, or they'll quote Dirty Dancing at you; so my nomination is Lily – it came to me in a dream – and if you think that you would be a name you might like, just give your Mom a little nudge." Rachel managed to sing a few bars of Defying Gravity before Quinn felt the kick.

"That is cheating Rachel Berry!"

"No it isn't, it's completely legitimate." The brunette chuckled.

"I guess that it's a good think I quite like the name then." Quinn said, and put her hand on the other's girls head, and began caressing.

"I guess it is." The singer looked up at her sleepily, then nestled herself back to the blondes stomach. "Last thing I would like to discuss with you today Baby Lily, is the stress you might have felt last night. I'm very sorry about that, we broke into school and your Mom was a little bit on edge. But now we have lots of balls, and when you're older we'll teach you the best, and most confusing game, ever to be invented. It'll be super."

"Oh no! I've just realized you won't be able to dress up as a cheerleader to cheer me on now you're in the team."

"You seem awfully keen on getting me into a Cheerio's outfit." Rachel quirked a brow, and licked her bottom lip a little.

"What can I say?" Quinn swallowed, and then inhaled deeply. She had two options as far as she could tell. Either she could shrug it off, or she could tell the truth. "I'd like to see you in it." She went with the truth. Well, the bare bones of the truth anyway.

Rachel stared at her for a moment, and then said; "Okay." She didn't elaborate, and the blonde wasn't going to push it.

"Oh my goodness! I'm terribly sorry!" Both girls looked at the door and saw Santana standing with her back to them.

"What are you doing, Lopez?" Quinn asked, and patted Rachel on the head because the girl had started laughing.

"I came to get a thing, but I can see you're busy."

"No we're not!" The blonde frowned. She looked down at Rachel, and realized the position they were in; at a quick glance, might look a bit rude. "Get in here for crying out loud. Rachel was just talking to Baby is all."

"Oh," The taller brunette sounded relieved, and turned around. "I thought something else was going on. Why is she still laughing?" Santana pointed at the Diva.

"Probably because you sound like someone from Victorian England when you're awkwardly embarrassed. It's a surprise to me too."

"Izzy's fault." The Latina said with a shrug. "Have you seen a rubber squid anywhere?"

"In here? No. But then I haven't been snooping."

"Crap. She must've got rid of it. Never mind, I'll get another one." Santana looked at her watch and then back to the two girls. "Be downstairs in forty-five, Iz will be needing help with things for lunch. If you two are staying that is. She says if you are, then Rach; you have to tell her what vegan stuff you like. And also, if you want to invite your Dad's."

Rachel gave her a questioning look, after calming her laughter down.

"She has this thing that Sunday lunch is a family thing, and she always makes a shit ton of food."

"I'll ask them."

"Cool. Carry on with what you were doing." Santana nodded at the two of them with a knowing smirk, and left the room.

There was silence for a few seconds, and then Rachel wriggled back up to the top of the bed. "What did she think we were doing?"

"You know… Something… Sexual."

"I may not know a great deal about cunnilinguis, but I'm almost certain that I was at the wrong angle for that."

Quinn let out a giggle. "Only 'Almost certain'? You don't know for sure then."

"No. I suppose I should research it." Rachel gave the girl a smile before dropping back down on the bed, and cuddling up to her.

The blonde gave the singer a sideways glance.

Yeah. That was definitely flirting.

Probably.

 


	19. Nineteen

Rachel sat cross legged on the bed waiting for Quinn to finish her shower. The blonde had given the singer her phone to look at the photos from last night to pass the time - and she had had gone from laughing, to being completely mortified - many, many times as she examined the pictures.

She didn't even remember some of these things happening. But she was clearly awake when most of the photos were taken.

As she pressed the button to select the next picture, something in the corner of her eye caught her attention, and she turned to look at the doorway; just in time to see Santana launch herself onto the bed in one long jump, and land on her stomach; causing Rachel to topple over.

"Santana." The Diva said with the annoyance of a parent scolding a child.

"Princess." The taller brunette replied with the grin of a child being caught doing something naughty, and not giving a crap.

"Why did you do that? I still feel a little bit sick." She huffed, and then reached over to the other girl, and poked her in the arm.

"Me too. Actually, I wish I hadn't done that now."

"Serves you right."

Santana sat back up; pulling Rachel up too, and the smaller girl smoothed her hair down then glowered at her friend. The taller brunette chuckled at this, and then gave the singer an annoyingly smug look. Rachel knew this look. They may not have been friends for long, but the four of them had spent so much time together it hadn't taken her long to pick up on quite a few of Santana's facial expressions. This one she had seen more times than she'd cared to, and it usually involved something to do with Quinn.

"So…" The Latina started, and cocked her head.

"Yes?" Rachel answered with the air of someone losing their patience.

"You and Tubbers have been getting all touchy recently. Took my advice did you?"

Rachel stopped glaring and ducked her head down; covering her face with her hair. "Maybe." She answered; her voice getting a little bit higher; like she was excited, and then shook her head in embarrassment. She looked back up at her friend, and noted that this information seemed to please Santana.

Before they had gone to the party last night, Santana had told her to be 'More affectionate' with Quinn, and although she had initially taken this advice with some trepidation, the more she drank, the easier it became. Even after she woke up this morning - relatively sober - she felt bold enough to flirt. At least that's what she hoped she' been doing. She lacked experience in that particular social ritual to know for certain.

"Maybe? You so coy Berry." Santana slapped her on the arm playfully.

"Well… I've been doing what you said; although I'm not sure how well I've been doing it. And I can't really tell if she's reciprocating." She shrugged helplessly. "She did say she wants to see me in a Cheerio's uniform though." She added.

"Hmm." The taller brunette frowned thoughtfully.

"That could be considered flirtatious. Don't you think?" Rachel asked hopefully.

"Yeah. Yeah!" Santana nodded enthusiastically. "I mean… Yeah. You could borrow one of my spares – just for a day though, and don't let Sue catch you wearing it or she slice the two of us in half. While wearing the uniform. And then she'll charge us for the damage."

"I don't know." The smaller girl answered doubtfully. "What if it isn't what I think it is? I don't want to make a fool of myself."

"Never stopped you before."

"Santana!" Rachel groaned.

"Sorry. I can't stop myself sometimes."

"I know." The Diva rolled her eyes. "Thank you for helping me through this; and not tormenting me about it. Which must be hard for you."

"No." Santana replied with a firmness that surprised the singer. "It's not hard for me to want my friends to be happy. Just because my core personality is made up of; sarcasm, bitchiness, and aggression, doesn't mean I'm cold-hearted."

"I never thought that."

"Never?"

"Not in a while anyway." Rachel smiled. "When you said that Glee was the best part of your day, I knew you couldn't be  _all_  bad."

"Geez, thanks." Santana shifted her position so that she was sitting next to the other girl, and put an arm around her shoulder. "So, do you want to borrow my uniform, or what?"

"Mmm." Rachel was unsure about it.

"What? Seriously! You think she just wants to see what you look like in a Cheerio's uniform because she's collecting data on whether gnomes can pull off the red, white and black colour combo? She clearly wants to ogle you!"

The singer furrowed her brow. Her friend had a point. Possibly. Quinn really did seem keen on seeing her in the outfit. What harm could it do in the grand scheme of things? Screw it. "Yeah. Okay. Thank you."

"Atta girl!" The arm that was still around her shoulders shook her encouragingly.

"Why do I let you talk me into things?"

"Excuse me!" Santana asked incredulously. "I do not  _talk_  you into things you don't want to do. Take it back now!

"Okay, okay, I take it back." Rachel nudged the taller brunette in the ribs with her elbow, and relaxed against the headboard. "You know, even if you are correct in assuming she does want to 'ogle' me; although I highly doubt it - but I appreciate your optimism – She probably won't for long, especially after Baby is born."

"Why?"

"Because, she'll get bored of me eventually, and then leave." The taller girl smacked her on the leg. Hard. "That hurt Santana!"

"Yeah. I know. You know what your problem is Rachel?" Her friend asked angrily. "You think she'll get bored of you because every person you've ever liked has done that. Why? Because every one you've liked until now, are complete bastards! They've made you insecure about yourself; treated you like you were worthless, and you've started to think that way! Fuck them! There are people in your life who like you for who you are; who care about you. Who are willing to hit you in the leg and say; You are a better person than they deserve. Anyone who makes you feel like you're a piece of crap isn't worthy of you. And I know I've done that to you, and I  _am_  sorry. Really, truly, sorry for that, because now I know that you're this complex, complicated little ball of crazy dwarf who is one of the most caring, funny, awesome, bad-asses I know." Santana gave the other girl a short nod, and then added- "And you can hold a tune pretty well too." Rachel just stared at her for a few seconds and then flung her arms around her.

"Stop fucking hugging me!"

"No!" The Diva responded happily. "You are going to get hugged by me and nothing is going to stop that; not even your grumbling!"

"Fine." Santana growled. But Rachel could hear the smile in her voice.

When she released her friend she gave her a grin, and a thought occurred to her. "Hey, what do you think about the name Lily?"

"For what?"

"For Baby."

"Yeah, it's nice."

"That's three votes." The Diva grinned while holding up her three middle fingers.

"Alright then." Santana chuckled. "Did you ask your Dad's if they want to come over?"

"Oh yes! Daddy said 'Yes, that would be lovely. Thank you.'"

"Sweet. So that's… Seven for lunch. Iz will be happy; she likes a lot of people around her when she has big meals. Something from her childhood I think." Santana said waving her hand dismissively.

Rachel cocked her head and gave her an empathetic look. "Is it just the two of you?"

"Yes." Santana answered shortly, and then softened her features. "My Mom died when I was six, our father had already re-married and his wife didn't want me. He basically forced Izzy to move over here to take care of me. She'd only just finished collage." That seemed to be the end of what was going to be said, and the Diva digested this news carefully.

Then she frowned deeply. "He abandoned you? Just like that? What a son-of-a-bitch!"

"Swear."

"Sorry. I hope he isn't coming for lunch too."

"No. He tries, but he never gets the invite. My sister wants to not resent him; she thinks as a fully grown adult, with fully grown adult responsibilities, she should just move on, but she can't, not really. And I'm glad she can't. I don't want him around." Santana said; slumping a little. "If Q does keep Baby-"

"Lily." Rachel corrected, and the taller girl smiled.

"-Lily, she's going to be the luckiest kid around. She's already got two Moms', two Grandpa's; me and Brittany, and the rest of the Glee club, and probably my sister too. She won't be able to move for family."

"That is kind of nice." Rachel answered wistfully.

"Okay." Santana slapped the bed with the air of someone closing a chapter on a conversation, and ready to move on. "You need to tell my sister what you want to eat."

"Are we…" Rachel pointed to the bathroom door. "Waiting?"

"No, we'll be here forever if we do. If you want to eat with the rest of us, then we have to go down now."

The Diva sighed deeply, and begrudgingly got up from the bed. "She could throw anything together; I'll be fine with that."

"You'll have plenty of opportunities to see Quinn dripping wet. Why do you need to see it now?"

"That's not why I wanted to wait!" Rachel folded her arms over her chest.

"Sure it isn't." Santana smirked, and spun the smaller girl around to face the door. "Chop, chop."

The singer huffed as she stomped out of the room, and down the stairs, with Santana following behind. As she approached the kitchen door she stopped so suddenly that the other girl walked into the back of her. "I forgot." She whispered, and spun around to face her friend.

"Forgot what?" The Latina arched a brow.

She glanced back to the kitchen, to where her math teacher was sitting by the island, with her feet crossed on the stool opposite her; reading a newspaper. "That your sister is my teacher."

Santana snorted a laugh and bent her head so that they were eye to eye. "What are you worried about? It's not like you don't know that teachers are people too; I mean Mr. Schue insists on telling us his actual, personal problems. It's really awkward when he does. You like my sister as your teacher don't you? You asked to stay in her class." She asked, looking at Rachel expectantly.

"Yes."

"Yes? Yes to what?"

"All of it." Rachel grabbed her arm and pulled her into the kitchen. "Good morning, Miss Caffrey!" She beamed manically.

Izzy lifted her eyes from the newspaper; peering over her glasses and smiled at the singer, then looked at the clock. "It's only  _just_  barely morning Rachel. Did you have a nice time last night?"

"Yes thank you, Miss." The singer still had a tight grip on Santana's arm, and if she had any rational thought, she'd realize that she was probably cutting off the other girls' circulation.

The woman let her feet drop off of the stool and stood up. "We're not in school right now Rachel. You don't have to call me Miss."

"I don't know what else to call you. What would you like me to call you?"

"Izzy is fine. Or Isobel. Or Ree."

"Ree?" Santana scoffed. "Where did that come from, it's not even close to Izzy. Who the hell calls you Ree?"

"People who ask me what I want to be called."

"Is this like that time you wanted people to call you Queen Flora McDoodle?"

"Probably not Ana, as I don't actually remember that happening, what with me being in hospital and off my face on painkillers." The older Lopez said and tapped the back of her sisters' head. "Now, go do something useful."

"Yes, my Queen." Santana said pulling a face.

Rachel watched the conversation with some fascination. She'd never seen her teacher act like this; in school she was quite strict and reserved, and very British.

She was suddenly aware that her friend had actually gone off to do something, whether it was useful she didn't know, but she did know she was now alone with Miss Caffrey. "Um, Ree?" This felt weird.

"Ah, my little singing friend, I've found some recipes on the internet that contain ingredients that I have in the house. So please peruse, not at your leisure because we're on a time restraint, and when are your Dad's coming?" The woman gave her a goofy smile that reminded her of Santana, and she relaxed a little.

"In about forty five minutes?"

"Ooh that's perfect. Now, there's the computer, so, you know, look and tell me what you want."

"Okay." She gave her teacher a smile, picked out a meal.

* * *

Quinn could feel the anticipatory buzz of excitement as she walked downstairs.

There was the sound of happy chatter and quiet music, plus the smell of food cooking, emanating from the kitchen and it enveloped her as she got closer.

She had been a little disappointed when she had found that the bedroom was empty after she had her shower, but realized that Izzy put everyone to work when it came to lunch on a Sunday - Family, friends, guests, and one time the next door neighbour who had only came by to drop off some tool he'd borrowed.

When she entered the room, she saw Santana and Rachel peeling and chopping vegetables - respectively, while Brittany was moving furniture around, Quinn assumed that it was to accommodate the Mr. Berry's, but knowing the taller blonde, it could just be because she'd gotten bored of the current layout. Either could be possible.

She looked over to Izzy, who seemed to be doing something schmancy with the beef - she didn't know what; anything other than grilled cheese was beyond her capabilities. Not that she had really tried, and she didn't see the point. Her future wife Rachel did most of the cooking, so why bother changing that now?

"Finally got your ass in gear!" Santana smirked, and hurled a carrot peel that successfully landed on the bridge of Quinn's nose. "Boo yah! Score!"

She narrowed her eyes at her friend as she removed the peel, and made her way to the counter that the two girls were using. "I don't like to rush hygiene." She humph'd, and turned her attention to Rachel.

"Hey." The smaller brunette smiled.

"Hey back." She responded, and ignored the roll of eyes and mimed gagging from the Latina.

"I'm helping." Rachel pointed at the potato in front of her with the small knife she was holding.

"And she's doing a fine job too." Izzy turned around to face the singer, and patted her on the head with a smug smirk.

"You're such a patronizing cow." Santana scrunched her face up at her sister, and then leaned over to take a closer look at the potatoes. "But she is right though Dwarf; they are beautifully chopped."

"You know what?" Quinn glared at the two Lopez females. "You both suck."

Santana and Izzy snorted a laugh at the same time, and carried on with their tasks, while Rachel gave her a happy smile. "Did you have a nice shower?"

"Yes thank you." She answered, and her gaze dropped down to the singers' mouth when the other girl took her bottom lip between her teeth.

"That's good to hear." Rachel said softly, and smiled.

Quinn could feel her cheeks getting hotter, and she tore her focus away from the other girls' mouth and looked over to Izzy; who was periodically riffling through drawers while playing air drums to a song on the radio.

"God damn it Ana. Where are the onions?"

"Ah." Santana said and puffed out her cheeks.

"Ah?" The older woman spun around to glare at the back of her sisters' head. "What does that mean? You ate them? What have I told you about that?"

"To let you know when I have used up a particular resource so that you can replace them." The Latina answered as if reading from a script. "But look, I didn't finish them until last night."

"That's not an excuse. There were two onions. What the hell could you have eaten that involved two bloody onions?"

"Can't have grilled cheese without onions." Santana scoffed.

"But,  _two of them?_ "

"Yeah, well, I was hungry." The younger sister shrugged, and went back to her peeling. As far as she was concerned, that was clearly the end of the conversation.

Quinn and Rachel looked over to each other, and chuckled quietly.

"Right. Fine." Izzy mumbled, and grabbed her car keys from the counter nearby. "Brittany. Keep an eye on the beef."

"Okey dokey." The taller blonde gave the woman a thumbs up, and marched over to the oven; leaving the dining area in a bit of a haphazard state.

"I won't be long." Izzy growled at her sister, and then walked out the door.

"Now that I know you and Miss Caffrey are related, I can definitely see the similarity." Rachel said after the door closed.

"Why?" Santana asked in genuine confusion.

"You're both loud, bossy, sarcastic, and have a penchant for hitting people on the head."

"I'm telling her you said that, Midget."

Quinn swore she could see the colour literally draining from Rachel's face. "Please don't tell her."

"It's not as if she doesn't already know these things, Troll." Santana cocked an eyebrow at her friend. "She's a grown-ass woman for crying out loud."

"That isn't the point." Rachel answered quietly. "And are you going to be calling me names all day?"

"Not  _all_  day, no. I'm sure I'll run out eventually. Half-pint." The taller brunette gave Rachel a grin, and the singer rolled her eyes. "Tell you what Short-Stack," Santana took the knife from the smaller girls' hand. "There's not many potatoes left to chop. Why don't you and the Lard-ass go into the other room; see if B has left the furniture in a usable position; and go watch some TV or something."

"Really?" Rachel asked with suspicion.

"Yeah." Santana leaned down and whispered something in the other girls' ear.

The Diva coughed, became flustered, and gave Quinn an awkward smile. "Okay, we'll be in the other room while we wait for Miss Caffrey. Or my Dad's."

"Good idea." The Latina winked.

Rachel hesitated for a moment before walking around the counter, and grabbing Quinn's hand; dragging her into the lounge. Surprisingly, the living area had been relatively untouched by Brittany's re-arranging, and they both took a seat on the armchair next to the sofa.

It wasn't until they had both sat down, that they realized the chair was considerably smaller than what they were used to, and therefore they were squashed up together leaving Rachel with one leg on the cushion, and the other draped over Quinn's lap. There was several moments silence, and during this silence, the blonde felt the panic rising from her stomach in heavy pulses. She knew logically there was no need, it wasn't intentional; they were both used to sharing Divine - which was big enough for them to share comfortably, and small enough for her to 'Accidently' cop a feel - Divine Snugglebottom was the perfect chair!

This chair made things awkward.

The silence passed when Rachel moved the leg that was on the cushion, and put that one on Quinn's lap too. "I'm very sorry Quinn; this is the only way for me to be comfortable." And she gave the blonde a smile. It was the same smile she had given Quinn when the blonde was sure she had been caught staring at her lips. "I could move if you'd like?"

"Nope." The pregnant girl said quickly. "But you can pass the remote."

"Certainly." Rachel leaned over to grab the device from the table, and the singers skirt rode up as she did this; only a little, but enough for Quinn to panic again.

' _Stop staring. Stop staring. Stop staring. Holy Mother of all things Good and Pure please don't let me drool.'_

"I've got it." Rachel said as she pushed herself back up and handed over the remote to a steel eyed Quinn.

"Yes you do." She replied as she took the control and turned on the TV, flicking trough the channels until she found one at least bearable. "What did Santana say to you?"

"When?" Rachel asked distractedly, gaze completely on the screen.

Quinn gave the other girl a quick sideways glance. "When she whispered to you."

The Diva stiffened slightly. "She wanted alone time with Brittany."

"Ah, okay." She sighed softly. She felt like she was trying to force a conversation out of Rachel. Perhaps being this close, while they were both awake and-or-sober, was not as easy as she though it was. But they'd been like this before hadn't they? Not  _exactly_  like this, but near as damn it. She sighed again; resting her elbow on the arm of the chair, and watched the moving pictures in front of her.

There was silence again. Not comfortable like it usually was, but awkward, and it seemed to go on forever.

But the sinking feeling she had, dissipated as soon as Rachel took hold of her hand. "Quinn? Are you alright? Is Baby Lily alright?"

She turned to face the brunette, and let out a soft chuckle. Partly from relief, and partly because the look of concern from her friend was just like it had been a few weeks ago in the auditorium. "Yeah, I think the terrible amount of sleep I had is catching up with me."

The Diva frowned. "Why did you stay awake so long? It's not good for you."

"I'm sorry." She grinned. "I was hyped from the party."

"No more late nights for you." Rachel told her sternly.

"No ma'am."

"I'm being serious!" The singer whined.

"I know. I can tell by the creases between your eyebrows." Quinn said as she wiggled her finger near the bridge of Rachel's nose.

The singer grabbed the offending digit with her other hand, and glared at her friend. "It's a good job I like you Quinn Fabray."

"I know that too." The blonde felt brave, and leaned over to kiss the other girl on the cheek. "And I am very happy that you do like me."

Rachel held her gaze for a few seconds, then let go of her hands, and wrapped her arms around the blonde's waist. Quinn rested her head on top of the other girls' and closed her eyes.

* * *

"WAKE UP!"

Rachel opened her eyes and stared blearily at Santana. "What?" She looked at the taller brunette with confusion; wondering how she'd managed to speak without opening her mouth, then she remembered Quinn.

"It's almost food time ladies, and your Dad's are here."

"Oh." The singer climbed off the chair, and held her hand out for Quinn without thinking, and then heaved when she felt a hand grasp hers. Both of her fathers appeared holding boxes from the bakery they always go to, and she smiled at them.

"Okay, Izzy isn't back yet, so who knows when we'll eat." Rachel turned attention to Santana; who was looking mildly annoyed. "She's been gone like, half an hour, she'd better not be any longer."

"Should we be worrying?" The Diva asked.

"Nah." The Latina shook her head. "Maybe, if she isn't back in an hour. Right now I'm just going to assume she's either being incredibly picky about her damn onions, or she's got distracted by something shiny; or maybe something furry." Santana stared at a spot on the wall for a few seconds, and then went back into the kitchen.

"I hope Izzy  _is_  back soon." Quinn said as she smoothed down her dress. "Because if she isn't - Well, trust me when I say that you don't want to see Santana anxious with worry."

"I can believe that." David said.

"For now, let's just lay the table and stuff." The blonde pointed to the boxes the two Mr. Berry's were holding. "Are those cakes?"

Rachel let out a snort, and tapped her friend on the arm. Quinn's bottomless-pit-of-a-stomach was the eighth wonder of the world as far as she was concerned. "Is that all you ever think about?" She asked with a laugh.

"Trust me Rach, it isn't." The blonde quirked a brow and smirked at her. "However, right now, I am thinking about cake."

"They're just pastries." Lucas lifted up his container, and rattled it slightly.

The singer heard Quinn gasp at this action. "Mr. B, do those pastries have cream, and or chocolate in, or on them?"

"Yes." The shorter man answered hesitantly.

"Then could you please refrain from shaking them! The cream, and or chocolate will end up mostly on the cardboard! And those are the best parts!"

"Honey," David started as he carefully relieved his husband of the box in his hands. "I think I'll just take these off you; just in case."

Rachel walked behind the pregnant girl; placed her hands on the other girls' hips, and very, very carefully, pushed her towards the kitchen. As she did this, she wondered if she was being 'Over friendly' because earlier, the blonde had become a little cold when she attempted to be affectionate. But maybe it really  _was_  because she was tired. Or maybe she shouldn't have listened to Santana when she told her she should take the opportunity to 'Feel her up' while they were watching TV. Honestly! Why did she have to whisper that to her when Quinn was only two feet away!

This whole trying to figure out if someone liked thing you was incredibly stressful. With boys it was easy because, well, they were boys. But girls were complicated. Especially pregnant ones. That used to hate you. She thought that maybe she could ask Santana, or Brittany to  _ask_  Quinn if she liked her back. But that seemed juvenile. However she would at least have an answer sooner rather than later.

"I am perfectly capable of walking there myself Rach." Quinn said as she swished her hips back and forth.

The Diva tried not to smile. She also tried not to take that as any kind of flirtation. Firstly; because there was the possibility of her hopes dashed. And secondly; if it were flirting, then it happening in front of her Dad's was a little weird. "I know you can do it yourself, I'm simply helping you along."

"Oh, okay then."

She was surprised that the dining room actually looked like a dining room when they walked in. Although quite different from how she remembered. She and Quinn must've been asleep for a while; she didn't even hear the furniture being put back. Santana pointed to the table and told her Dad's and Quinn to sit their asses down, and called Rachel over to help dish up the food. When she got to the other girl, she asked. "Aren't you making my Dad's help? I thought everyone does."

"Yeah, when Izzy is here; she's a lot bossier than I am."

"Really?" The singer frowned; unable to believe that anyone could be bossier than Santana.

"Yes!" The taller girl answered defensively, and then groaned in frustration. "Where the hell is she Rachel?"

The Diva guessed this was a rhetorical question, but she still answered, "I don't know."

On queue, the older woman walked in, carrying a large cardboard box. "Sorry I took so long."

"You can say that again." The Latina huffed. "You do remember we have guests right? And holy crap, how many onions did you buy?"

"A couple." A slow smile crept across Izzy's face.

Santana eyed the container suspiciously. "Why is it making a noise?"

"Well, you see, I was on my way home and-"

"Oh my God! What did you get? No, you know what? I don't want to know, whatever it is; take it back."

Izzy put the box down on the small table next to the door, and opened it up.

"Iz, seriously. Don't."

Rachel watched as the older woman put her hand in, and then pulled out a kitten. "Ana, look at her tiny little face!"

When she looked behind, she saw Santana covering her eyes with her hands. "Nope."

Rachel decided that this was probably something best witnessed farther back, so she manoeuvred herself away from the situation, and made her way to the dining chair between Brittany and Quinn. She turned her seat to face the action, and almost immediately, the shorter blonde rested her chin on her shoulder. "Santana will cave." The blonde chuckled. "Kitten's are like her kryptonite; she is powerless to resist."

"Isn't that your math teacher, Sweetie?" David asked.

"It is." She answered as she leaned back.

She made a decision as she watched her friend crumble at the sound of a quiet little meow the kitten made. She needed to know for sure if Quinn liked her or not. She knew she had to stop obsessing over it because it was starting to make her stomach hurt, and even if Quinn wasn't interested - she would be disappointed - but at least she'd know. There was only one way she could think of where she would find out definitively; and that was to dress up like a Cheerio.

It wasn't the most perfect plan. In fact it was probably the worst one she'd ever had in her life. But that was what Quinn Fabray had reduced her to; living life on the edge. And honestly, that's exactly why she loved her.

 


	20. Twenty

**_Sunday (Still)_ **

.

.

.

"Om nom nom nom nom nom nom nom nom nom."

"For the love of  _GOD_ , Lopez!"

Santana stopped pretending to eat the kitten's ear, and stared at Quinn. "What?"

"You have been doing that for the last fifteen minutes. You need to stop it now. Some of us are trying to watch TV."

The Latina lifted up the kitten to cover her face, and said, in a mock voice; "You are such a grouch.""And then she lowered her new favourite thing in the world, and stood up. "What should we call her?"

"Mrs. Miggles." Rachel suggested.

"No, that's a really stupid name, Munchkin."

"Then I'm all out." The Diva shrugged.

"Anyone else?" She asked the two blondes.

"No." Brittany frowned. "San, you're standing in front of the screen." And she waved her hand to indicate to the taller brunette to move.

"Fine." Santana grumbled, and walked into the dining room where Izzy and the Mr. B's were relaxing after the huge meal.

It had been nice having so many people over for lunch; the most there had ever been before was four. And the extra two were usually Brittany and Quinn. It was also nice seeing Izzy converse with adults, Santana so rarely saw it - she forgot that her sister became a different person when it happened.

"- For the first three months after I came out here to take care of her; Ana would run away every week. I'd spend hours searching for her – Calling out her name – and generally sobbing at having lost a six year old child. I'd find her eventually. Once I found her sleeping under the park bench that tramp sleeps on. I laugh now, but at the time, it was hell."

Santana gave her sister a brief look as she remembered those incidents from her childhood. At the time she never considered how her sister would feel at her constant running away. All she cared about was that this woman she didn't know had replaced her mom.

"You don't look like you're laughing. In fact you look quite pensive." Lucas said as he took a sip of his tea.

"Yeah, actually, remembering it now is still is upsetting."

"Rachel never did anything quite as stressful. Sometimes we'd find her in the bathtub with her pillow and blanket. But never sleeping under a homeless man."

Izzy narrowed her eyes at her sister and shook her head. "It's not surprising that she was such a tearaway when she was a kid. She's still one now."

"Hey!" Santana said defensively as she grabbed four bottles of water from the fridge, and hugged them precariously under the arm that wasn't holding the kitten, and made her way back to the lounge.

"Ana."

"Yeah." She turned to look at Izzy.

"I want to hold the little ball of fluff now."

"Oh, yeah sure." She leaned down to pass the white kitten over to her sister, and then pulled away quickly. "Nah." Then she strode back into the other room, and handed out the drinks.

"Kitten hogger!" Izzy shouted.

Just as she was about to sit down, Quinn started wriggling manically, and after some effort, finally stood up. "I have to be at Mike's soon." The blond held out her hand. "Car keys."

"Khakis?" Santana frowned.

"No. Car keys. Hand 'em over." Quinn wiggled her fingers and gave her friend a stern look.

"Why?"

"Because mine are at home; along with my car. You know, I still don't understand why we didn't just come here yesterday in my car?"

"Because then my car would be at Rachel's."

"Right." The pregnant girl huffed. "Just give them to me."

Santana caught the smile on Rachel's face before she said, "Okay."

"Good. Now I need to go pack my stuff."

"I'll come… watch you." She said. There was something she actually wanted to give her friend, and it was best if no one else was around.

"Alright then." Quinn replied, and gave the other girl a bemused look. "We have to arrange a Sbuck meeting." The blonde told her as they walked out into the hallway. "Preferably this week sometime."

"Okay." Santana nodded her agreement at her friends back while she tickled behind the kitten's ear.

"We should probably have it at our house."

"Alright then."

"Hey, did Rachel ask you about the baby name?"

"Yup. It's nice."

"Yeah, but Puck will probably want a say. It came to her in a dream apparently."

"Cool."

Quinn stopped at the top of the stairs and cocked a brow at her. "What's up with you?"

"Nothing." She smiled. "I had an awesome dream earlier; after I woke up next to the heads." She shuddered. She hated those dolls when she was a kid, and she still hates them now. In fact more so, now the have no bodies.

"Oh, what about?" The blonde asked as she walked into the bedroom.

"You and Rachel were getting married, and the two of you had decided to get your rings tattooed on instead of real ones; but just before the wedding, you decided you wanted rings after all, and because I was your bridesmaid you asked me to get some real ones-"

"You were wearing a bridesmaid dress?"

"Actually, no. I was wearing a t-shirt that said 'Quinn-Maid'. So anyway, I went and got you two rings, and on the way back to the church, it started raining, and made my hair do that thing it does when it's wet, and after you got married, I refused to be in the photos because I didn't have any equipment to tame my wild mane."

"Quinn-Maid." The blonde chuckled. "When me and Rach do get married, I don't care what you look like; you  _will_  be in the pictures."

"Whatever." Santana frowned. "Just pack your damned bag, and I'll go get your other birthday present."

"Another one? We didn't agree on that."

"You know, sometimes, friends get each other more than the allocated amount of presents for each other."

"That kind of thing leads to anarchy."

Santana laughed and went into her bedroom, and pulled out a neatly wrapped gift from under the bed, and returned to her friend. "Here, never say I don't get you anything nice."

Quinn took the present and carefully ripped the paper off then stared at the contents or a few moments. "What is – Oh my God! No!" Then she started hitting her friend with the box.

"Don't hit me with it," Santana laughed. "You might hurt the kitten." She said, and kissed the still un-named cat on the top of the head. "Or, you might break your present."

"You are unbelievable!"

"Oh come on, that is perfect for you!"

"What on Earth possessed you to get this for me?"

"You've seemed a little…  _frustrated_  lately. I thought you might like a  _neck massager_." Santana said and wiggled her eyebrows.

"No." Quinn said sternly.

"Why no? Is this a religious thing? Because you're already pregnant out of wedlock, and totally gay. What's a little  _release_  gonna do?"

" _Santana!"_ The blonde hissed, and looked behind to make sure no one was there.

"What?" She asked innocently. "Wow. I don't think I've ever seen anyone that red before." She snorted.

"I actually hate you." Quinn glared at her. "I cannot believe you got this." The pregnant girl waved her present around frantically.

"Well, technically, I didn't get it. Izzy did. Oh, hey, now you've gone white."

"Did you tell her you were getting it for me?" Quinn asked unbelieving.

"Sure. Why wouldn't I?"

"I think I'm gonna die."

"Nah, Fabray, you'll be fine. In fact, you'll be more than fine now you have your  _neck massager_."

"Could you please stop saying that!"

"Here's what I'm going to do; I'm going to give you my car keys – Here you go – And now I'm going to leave you here to pack. Make of that what you will my friend." She gave the pregnant girl a smile, then spun on her heel, and walked downstairs.

* * *

**_Tuesday_ **

.

.

.

"Okay. I got one." Brittany turned in her chair so she was facing both Quinn and Santana. "Would you chose to be blind, or deaf?"

"Haven't we had this one before?" The brunette asked as she avoided a pen being hurled across the classroom.

"Maybe." Quinn shrugged. "I'm going to go with blind."

"Really? I think-"

"No wait! I changed my mind. I'm gonna be deaf."

"Are you sure now?" Santana asked.

"Yeah." The shorter blonde nodded. "You?"

"Same. Britt?"

"Me too."

"Well, that was easy." Santana said as she leaned back against the wall. "How about this one - Constantly having the feeling you need to sneeze. Or, constantly having the feeling you need to pee?"

"Jesus Christ Lopez! Why are yours always so… so… so, disturbing?"

"They aren't disturbing. I just know how to play the game."

"Good afternoon class."

The three girls chorused out a "Good afternoon Mr. Schuester." Along with everybody else, and returned to their former position; facing the front of the room.

Sometimes Santana wondered why she was even in this class. Apart from the fact she was fluent in the damn language, Mr. Schue was totally incompetent. She could teach this class better than him, and she could barely stand to talk to the rest of her classmates.

Of course she was here for Brittany, but that didn't mean she had to listen to the idiot. However, the spare time in class did give her time to think. And right now she was thinking about kittens and dinner. But not in the same context.

When she heard Quinn giggling behind her, she turned around and saw that the blonde was laughing at a banana. At that point she was convinced that her friend had completely lost her mind. "Fabray?" She whispered. "What are you doing?"

The pregnant girl held up the fruit, and Santana could make out the words 'I'm bananas for you' written in pen, and she let out a snort of amusement, and also out of relief. Rachel was finally stepping up her game – and it was in the most Rachel-est way possible, which was apt she supposed.

When the lesson was over and the three friends walked towards their lockers to meet the little Diva - Santana nudged Quinn with her shoulder and smiled. "You didn't eat it did you?"

The shorter blonde shook her head. "I couldn't. I just… couldn't." She laughed shyly.

"You are so very sentimental, Tubbers."

"It was one of the sweetest things I have ever seen." Brittany said as she linked arms with Santana. "That means she loves you."

"Yeah." The pregnant girl replied doubtfully. "Maybe she just thought it was a cute thing to do."

The brunette heaved an exasperated sigh. They were as bad as each other - It was infuriating! "I am just going to keep suggesting this while you're still pregnant – Just kiss her." She said the last three word quietly, because Quinn didn't need anyone hassling her about her sexuality on top of everything else. Besides, only she was allowed do that. "Even if she rejects you, you at least have the excuse of being insane with baby hormones. And you only have a smallish window left. You're almost eight months gone, and when that brat is out – Poof, so is that window."

"I'm not sure she would buy that."

"Do it.  **Do it!** "

"You're like a child."

Santana leaned in close to the shorter blonde, and grinned. "Do it."

"What is that guy doing to Rachel?" Brittany asked.

Both girls snapped their heads towards the locker bank, and saw a jock slamming the books out of the singers' hands and then kick them across the hallway. All three friends ran up to Rachel, and Santana was screaming right in his face before the football player even had a chance to say anything.

She didn't really know what she was saying, but later she would be told that it involved a great deal of swearing, and questioning of his manhood. The only reason she stopped shouting at him, was because Quinn began hitting the Holy Hell out of him with one of Rachel's fallen books. There was also a lot of swearing from her too.

For a moment, she wondered if she should try and stop the assault, but decided against it when she saw that Quinn looked like a demon. One of those really scary, violent ones.

"Are you okay Rach?" Brittany put her hand on the smaller girls' shoulder.

"I'm fine." She said, smiling nervously at the pregnant girl.

"Miss Fabray!"

The echo of Izzy calling out the name, made Quinn freeze in mid-beating. And if she wasn't so genuinely terrified of her sister when she had her 'Teacher Hat' on, Santana would be laughing her ass off at the sight.

"Miss." The shorter blonde acknowledged.

"Would you care to enlighten me?" The older woman waved her arm around at the situation.

"Jenkins had a wasp on him, Miss. I helped."

"Chad?" Izzy gave the boy a cold stare.

"It's true, Miss." He mumbled.

"Then I suggest that you leave the area; just in case there are more about."

"Yes, Miss." The boy gave her a smile, and made a break for it.

"You saw what he did right?" Santana asked, after he left the vicinity.

"No." Izzy answered quietly. "And I don't want to know. Chad Jenkins is an arse, so I'm sure he deserved it." The woman straightened herself up, and brushed down her pinstripe suit. "I'm sure you have classes to get to ladies." She said with a curt nod, and walked towards her classroom.

"Did he hurt you?" Quinn asked; the concern evident in her voice.

"No. I should be very angry at the two of you." She gave both her friends a pointed look.

"Should be?" Santana and Quinn exchanged glances.

"Well, yes. But, maybe I quite like having friends who stick up for me. It's nice not to have to fight my battles alone anymore."

"No you don't." Santana grabbed the smaller girl by the shoulders, and manoeuvred her towards the pregnant girl, and Quinn gave her a smirk as she pulled the singer into a hug.

"Okay losers, time for us to get to class."

* * *

**_Wednesday_ **

.

.

.

Santana decided to take out her crappy mood on the steak she was tenderizing. It was a very cathartic way of dealing with stress. Certainly a lot healthier than using the steak hammer on one Jesse St. James. She didn't know what his role in today's revelation was exactly, but she was sure he had a role.

"Hey, how was school?" She looked up at her sister as she walked into the kitchen, and went to pour herself a cup of coffee.

She sighed. Worrying about something she may have just made up in her head, was useless. "Comme ci, comme ça." She gave a lop-sided smiled to her sister.

"S'il vous plait. Merci beaucoup. Un de toi."

"Do you have any idea what you're saying?" She asked with a quirked brow.

"Not really. I never did French in school; I did Welsh and German."

"And how useful are  _those_  languages?"

"In Wales and Germany? Pretty useful."

"There you go again - using logic on me." Santana said as she stole the coffee her sister had just made; stirring the sugar and hurling the spoon into the sink when she was finished with it, then chuckled when her sister winced at the noise.

"Comes with being an adult." Izzy shrugged. "How was Glee club? It seemed unusually loud in there today when I walked passed."

"We found out that Vocal Adrenalin are doing Gaga."

"I didn't understand that sentence."

"You know, Vocal Adrenaline – Our rival Glee club – are doing Lady Gaga."

"Lady Gaga? Do I know who that is? And why is it bad?"

"You're so old." Santana shook her head at her sister's lack of musical knowledge passed 1999. "It's bad because its guaranteed theatrics; and judges love that crap."

"Okay." Izzy answered blankly. "I still don't understand it, but I have to assume that you aren't happy about it, because of how you were treating that steak when I walked in."

"It's something to do with Jesse, I know it." She said waving the hammer around angrily.

"Oh I don't like him. He's a smarmy little weasel."

"I know! It didn't occur to me until I got home that Jesse might know something, and I text Quinn, and I haven't heard back from her, and it's been like two hours. I tried Rachel too, and I haven't heard from her either."

"Yes, it is very suspicious when a teenager doesn't answer a text straight away."

"That wasn't helpful."

"I know that now." Izzy said as she rubbed her sisters' shoulder. "I'm sure everything is fine and dandy."

"You know what? I'm gonna try calling her again." She put the hammer down and wiped her hands on a nearby cloth, then snatched her phone from the counter. After four rings, Quinn finally picked up.

"Answer your fucking texts woman!"

' _We had our phones off. Are you at home? You are not going to believe what just happened.'_  Quinn said breathlessly.

"Yeah, I'm home. What's going on?"

' _I'll be two minutes.'_ Then the blonde clicked off.

Santana held her phone out at arms length, and growled, then slammed it down.

"That's the thing with cell phones." Izzy said as she picked up the phone from the flour on the counter, and wiped it off with a paper towel. "There is no satisfying way of hanging up angrily. Is everything alright?"

"Quinn's on her way. Something happened. I don't know what."

"Okay." The older Lopez sister exhaled as she shook off her jacket, and tossed it over the dining chair. "I'll finish dinner." She said wearily. There was always some bloody drama with these kids.

"No." Santana rolled her eyes. "I can do with hitting something for a bit longer."

"I'll leave you to it then. I need a shower."

By the time Quinn barged in through the kitchen door, Santana had gone passed tenderizing the meat, and had committed fully to making it mush. "This had better be good." She told the blonde through gritted teeth. She wasn't speaking from anger, she was speaking from worry, but sometimes it was hard to distinguish between the two.

"Me and Rach and Mercedes went to Carmel to spy on Vocal Adrenaline-"

"The Hell? Without me?"

"Let me finish." The brunette held her hands up, and the blonde continued. "Okay so, we were in the auditorium, even tough I really didn't want to be there, but Rachel literally forced a pro/con list in my face that I couldn't argue with, and on our way there we spotted Mercedes so Rachel decided that she was going to ask her to come along too, but I don't know why. Maybe has something to do with trying to get her to like her, I don't know-"

"Fabray! There's letting you finish, and then there's letting you just ramble aimlessly."

"Right. So we were up top watching, and their director, Ms Corcoran, started singing, and then –Fft- Rachel was up and walking towards the stage, and I'm thinking 'Holy noodles, this is the worst recon mission ever!'-"

"QUINN!"

"Ms Corcoran is Rachel's mom!"

Santana stared open mouthed at her friend for a few moments before her brain accepted this information. "Well… shit." Was all she managed to say.

"Yeah, pretty much." Quinn agreed, and walked over to the fridge and took several slices of ham.

"Wait. Why aren't you there with her?"

"It's not my place to be. She text me after I left – asking me not to tell her Dad's."

"Right."

"I've been driving around for half an hour, just freaking out."

"Why?"

"Whether people like it or not; Rachel is our star performer. She's just found out her mother is the director of the, decidedly more polished Glee club that actually wins things. What if she leaves?"

"She wouldn't leave."

"Why wouldn't she? Vocal Adrenaline are actually good."

"So are we! We are damn good. And we don't all look the same."

"And you know if she leaves, Jesse will follow."

"So?" Santana frowned.

"We'll only have eleven people."

"I think you're over-thinking this. She won't leave."

"You didn't see the two of them San, they could be bonding as we speak!"

"You don't think that is a good thing?"

"Shelby Corcoran is going to steal Rachel from me! – Us. From us."

"Ah, jeez." The brunette puffed out her cheeks.

"Can I stay here for a bit?"

"While you continue to freak out?"

"Yes."

"Yeah, course you can."

"Thanks." Quinn took a seat on a stool the other side of the counter, and put her chin in her hands. "What's for food?"

"My famous knuckle sandwich."

 


	21. Twenty One

**_Thursday_ **

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.

.

Santana was finding it increasingly difficult to ignore the constant sighing that came from Quinn next to her on the couch. It wasn't that she didn't feel for her friend; she did. Of course she did. But sometimes a girl just needs to spends some quality alone time with her Xbox, and shoot the ever-loving crap out of some zombies! At least Brittany had found a way to entertain herself with the kitten and some of Izzy's wool.

"I miss Rachel." Quinn said, and took another pickle out of the jar.

"Yeah, I know." The brunette grunted, without taking her eyes off the TV screen. "You've mentioned this  _several_  times now. Apart from the fact that she hasn't actually gone anywhere – and is just hanging out with her mom – you saw her three hours ago."

"Not the point Santana!" The blonde said as she punched her on the arm. "You aren't a very supportive friend."

"The hell I'm not! I just don't want to hear about how Rachel wants to get to know her mother; and not spend time with you." She let out a frustrated noise as she died in the game she was playing, and put the controller on her leg. "I get it Q, you've gotten used to the fact that you - and that bump of yours have been the centre of her attention for the last few weeks. But it's only been a day. Did you talk to her last night?"

"No. She got in late, and I went to bed early."

"Did you use your  _massager_?" Santana smirked.

"Shut up." Quinn huffed, and sunk into the sofa with a pout. "I know I'm being unreasonable, that doesn't mean I don't feel sad about it."

"Fair enough." The brunette turned in her seat so she was facing her friend. "At least you're aware you're being a crazy pregnant woman right now. You've grown so much as a person."

"Seriously. Shut up."

"Right, well, it's not that I don't want you in my house – sulking like a child. But why aren't you at home?"

"Rachel has sworn me to secrecy, and I'm worried that I won't be able to keep it from the Mr. B's."

"I know I was all mock the mocky mockerson just then when I said you'd grown as a person, but now I'm thinking that maybe you really have. Remember not that long ago when you lied for months to Fudson about him being the Baby Daddy? I'm so freaking happy that it isn't his baby by the way; I mean, what if she got his brains? As much of an idiot as Puck can be, he isn't stupid."

"No. And, she'd be called Drizzle if she was Finn's."

"I'm back!" Izzy called out from the kitchen, and when the woman entered the living room, Santana saw her visibly sag, and she knew exactly why. Izzy liked Brittany and Quinn; she also liked it when she had a break from them. But God bless her - she recovered from her disappointment quickly and quietly. "Hello there my little Pumpkin pies; my tiny Peach Cobblers; my miniscule Apple Crumbles; my giant Yorkshire Puddings. How are we today?"

"Hungry." Quinn responded sullenly, and the older Lopez gave her sister a questioning look.

"She's sad."

"Still? Okay." Izzy shook her head, turned and marched back out of the room.

"Go home Fabray." Santana said as she put her hand on the other girls arm.

"Yeah. Will you come with me? Just for a while?"

' _Jesus. H. Christ'_ "B? Wanna go over to Quinn's?"

The taller blonde looked up at them from where she was sitting on the floor. "Can we bring Luna?"

"Who?"

"The cat!" Brittany proclaimed as she held up the kitten, Lion King style.

"When did we name her that?" Santana frowned in confusion. " _Why_  did we name her that?"

"Because of the half moon shape on her head."

"Oh! Okay, Luna it is. Although she'll probably end up being called a ton of other names too."

"Cool. So does that mean we can take her to Quinn's?"

"Nope."

"Aww." The blonde cheerleader pouted.

"I'm sorry B, but she needs to get used to being here before she goes anywhere else."

"Okay then. Are we going now?"

Santana nodded and got up from the couch; leaving Brittany to help up Quinn, and she walked into the kitchen. "I'm going to the Berry's for a few hours." She told her sister.

"You sound happy about it." Izzy cocked a brow.

"Mopey Quinn is a pain in the ass."

"Yeah." Her sister chuckled, and went into her bag; pulling out her wallet. "Here's some money; get a pizza or something if you aren't eating here."

"Thanks." She said taking the note, and pocketing it in her jeans. "I'll see you later."

* * *

**_Friday Afternoon_ **

.

.

.

This felt weird. It felt like they were encroaching on some private moment between two human beings. And that is exactly what they  _were_  doing.

Quinn, Santana and Brittany all sat at the back of McKinley auditorium, watching Rachel and Shelby sing Poker Face. Quinn couldn't see the sadness on Diva's face, but she could hear in her voice.

"This doesn't seem like an appropriate song for a mother/daughter duet." Santana whispered.

"Shh." The blonde pinched her friend.

"I'm just sayin' is all I'm sayin'"

"Look at her San." Brittany pointed to Rachel. "She's really sad. Does it matter what they're singing? When Ms Corcoran walks out of here - she's going to need someone to be there for her, and lucky for her she has three someone's - Us." The taller blonde clarified, as if there were some other friends of Rachel's who follow her and her mother around in case something happens. "And you know what we're gonna do? We're gonna hug her, and just be there for her."

"Yeah, Brit, I know." Santana said leaning back in her chair.

They watched as the song continued, and Quinn wondered how Rachel must be feeling right now. They hadn't spoken much over the last two days – not without Rachel's Dads around anyway – and it made her think of Baby Lily. What if things had happened differently and she still planned on giving her up to Crazy Terri Schuester? Would she even get a chance to know her? If not, would her daughter find her years later?

But that was too many 'What if's'. She'd already had the conversation with the whole Berry family earlier in the week about staying with them after Baby was born. Even though Rachel had already told her that David and Lucas wanted her there, she still cried when they confirmed it over a nice cup of cocoa with marshmallows.

When the song was done - Shelby walked away, leaving Rachel alone on the stage. She looked so small and dejected. "I swear to God Tubbers, I think this one is on you, and you'd better get down there now."

Quinn nodded, and pushed herself out of the chair. She could feel her heart beating, and wasn't sure why. "Hey." She said softly as she neared her friend.

The singer blinked away some tears and smiled at her, and the blonde was relieved to see it was one of her - 'I'm really happy to see you' smiles. "Hey back." Rachel took a seat on the edge of the stage and Quinn stood in front of her; putting her hands on the smaller girls knees.

"Did you see all of that?" The Diva asked as she wiped at her eyes.

"You had an audience." She pointed behind her with her thumb.

"Hey Rach!" Brittany called out. "We'll be here if you need lots of hugs!"

"Thanks!" The singer shouted back and then laughed.

"I'm not going to ask if you're alright Rach, because that would be stupid. But, I am going to ask you if you need a tissue."

Rachel laughed again and bent down; resting her arms on Quinn's shoulders. "Yes, I think I would." She said, and rested her head on top of the blondes. "But in a minute. Right now I think I need some comfort."

"I can do that." The blonde leaned in closer, and wrapped her arms around the other girls' waist.

"I'm sorry we haven't talked in a while."

"I understand."

"I just… I wasn't sure how to talk about this with you. You were going to give Lily up, and - I don't know. Part of me is afraid that you still will. That you'll realize that my Dads and me are crazy, and you wouldn't want your daughter near us."

"What? No! Never." Quinn leaned back so she could look the singer in the eye. "You may all be crazy, but there's enough love in your home-  _my home_  – to fill a galaxy!"

"That an exaggeration." Rachel said with a smile and tapped her on the arm.

"Nope. My parents never showed me or my sister any affection; everything was superficial for them. Santana only really has Izzy; her dad only speaks to them when he feels like it. And Brittany's parents don't really understand her; they just let her get on with it. They aren't mean or anything, they're just there. You have two parents who love you; who care about the things you do, and are interested in the person that you are. Why wouldn't I want my daughter to grow up in that kind of house?"

"When you say it like that…" Rachel pulled Quinn's back in towards her, and she placed her hands on the blonde's neck. "I suppose I'm very lucky."

"You are. You're friends with me!"

The singer snorted and drummed her fingers against the pregnant girls' skin. "You know, I could say the same thing – but I'm far too modest."

Quinn would've laughed at this, but they were close again, and she found herself a bit lost in brown eyes.

"Quinn?"

"What?" She asked, looking around.

"You were just… You were staring."

"I'm so sorry. I was thinking about – sandwiches."

"Oh?" Rachel giggled. "Any particular kind?"

"Not really." She shrugged helplessly. She was embarrassed about being caught out. "Just general food really."

"Okay. Maybe we should go home then?"

"Yes." Quinn stepped back, holding out both of her hands, and Rachel clasped them before she jumped down from the stage, and then they made their way up towards their friends.

"You're not going to need that hug are you?" Santana asked as they approached.

"No, you're off the hook this time." Rachel grinned.

"Thank Christ."

"You and Miss – Your sister are still coming over tonight?"

"Are you kidding me?" The taller brunette scoffed. "She's been looking forward to it since your Dad's asked on Monday."

"Oh good!" She smiled. "I sort of need the distraction."

"And I am more than happy to help you with that if free food is involved."

"You'd do it anyway." Brittany told Santana.

"Stop telling people things like that B, it'll ruin my image."

"Santana Lopez is a big softie!" Quinn laughed, and didn't stop when she was given the evil eye.

* * *

**_Friday Night_ **

.

.

.

Quinn let out a contented hum as she sunk down into the chair and closed her eyes. She was full of food, and it was nice to be back on Divine with Rachel, it had only been two days, but it felt like longer.

There had been one up-side to her Rachel drought though; she'd managed to read another fifty pages of the book she'd been trying to get through for the last three weeks, and there was only another seventy pages to go!

But that didn't mean she wanted it to happen again. Fifty pages was all well and good, but it didn't trump having Rachel's being near her.

David, Lucas and Izzy were in the kitchen drinking wine, and that left the four girls to laze about in the den, and for a change – instead of watching a film - Rachel had managed to persuade her friends to open their horizons to different types of music, but Quinn was pretty sure that as soon as the first song came on, Santana and Brittany – who were cozied up on the sofa – had stopped listening to the monks chanting, and were more interested in each other.

"Quinn?"

"Hmm?" The blonde turned her head; keeping her eyes closed. She and Rachel had the chair reclined and they were in their usual position of the singer snuggled up into her side with her arm resting over Baby. She was too sleepy to worry about where hands were - or where they weren't. She was just glad that she had Rachel's warmth on her again.

"Thank you for letting me and my Dad's have some time to talk earlier; about Shelby." The Diva said, and rubbed the swollen belly of the blonde.

"That's alright. They seem fine, so it went well?"

"As well as can be expected." Quinn felt what she guessed was a shrug from the other girl. "They were mostly annoyed that I had you lie for me. They were worried because they thought you were avoiding them, but they didn't want to pry."

"I should probably apologize for that."

"I'm sorry for asking you to do it."

"I'd do anything for you." The blonde snapped her eyes open as soon as she said the words, and panic began to set in.

Rachel lifted herself up on one arm and Quinn dared to look. "Anything?" The singer smiled.

"Within reason." The pregnant girl relaxed.

"What if I asked you to get me a piece of that carrot cake Santana's sister made?"

"You really can't say her name, can you?"

"It feels so odd!" Rachel whined.

"Okay!" Quinn chuckled. "Do you really want another piece of the cake? Because I'll get it."

"Yes, but I'll get it myself."

"No, I wanted to get some chocolate milk anyway. Might as well get you some more dessert while I'm there."

"Well, if you want a drink I'll get it."

"No!" Santana said. "Let the lardy get it herself."

"It's fine Rachel." Quinn reassured. "I could do with stretching my legs anyway."

"If you're sure." The little Diva frowned.

After some help up from Rachel, Quinn walked towards the door; making sure she avoided whatever Santana and Brittany were doing on the couch and headed towards the kitchen. She stopped in the hallway when she heard Izzy talking.

"- I swear to God, it's like they actually have to  ** _fail_**  a psyche exam, to become one. I just don't get why anyone would want to be a taxi driver! And Joe was the only sane one I met."

The blonde suddenly remembered the cabbie that Izzy dated about two years ago. He seemed really nice from what she could recall, and they were together for a while. She never wondered why they broke up until right this second.

"Were you two together for long?" She heard Lucas ask.

"Thirteen months. The guy has been shot once; in the arm. Stabbed in the leg. Beaten up – But he couldn't handle the fact that Ana was part of my package, y'know?"

Quinn tensed up when she heard this, and moved closer to the wall.

"He was jealous?" David asked.

"I don't know. I know that my sister can be a hellion child. But you know what? I don't care! I brought her up the best way I could; I brought her up to not take any shit from anyone, and that it's actually okay to have an opinion – even if other people don't like it. She knows that no matter what – me and our home is somewhere she will always be safe, and she will always,  _always_  come first. If some guy doesn't like that I have a younger sister to take care of – he can bugger off."

Quinn figured this was probably the best time to walk in, because if she took any longer someone might come looking for her.

"Hello there Kiddo, everything alright?" David smiled.

"Rachel has a hankering for some of that cake, and I felt like some chocolate milk."

"She liked the cake?" Izzy lit up.

The blonde nodded. "Yes, she does."

"I am so glad." Izzy picked up the bottle of wine from the table, and topped off her glass. "I've never made vegan stuff until last weekend. It's not half bad to eat." She said and took a sip of her drink. "But not regularly."

Both of Rachel's Dad's chuckled at that, and Quinn cut a slice of the cake. "No, I can imagine. I don't think either you, or Santana could go more than a day without eating meat."

"That's because meat is tasty."

"So true." Quinn smiled, and went to the fridge to fetch the whole carton of milk. "I'm going to leave you boozy adults to it."

"Thanks Kiddo!"

Rachel was sitting upright and throwing a Sbuck ball to Brittany when she walked back into the den. Damn it! They still hadn't had their meeting.

"Is she very drunk?" Santana asked, and the shorter blonde shook her head. "I'm sure that change by the time we go home."

"They just finished one bottle, and there's another one left."

"Urgh." Santana groaned, but with a smile. "She'll gets all huggy when she's drunk on wine, and tells me she loves me."

"Well she does." Quinn told her friend, and thought about what she had said to Rachel earlier about Santana only having her sister to care about her. But after what she had just overheard, 'only' was the wrong word – it implied that it wasn't enough, and that wasn't the case. Izzy was everything Santana needed, and she suspected that her friend knew this. "You love it Lopez, so shut your mouth."

"Yeah." The taller brunette grinned.

"May I have my cake?"

Quinn turned to look at Rachel, and was amused to see her sitting so primly in the chair that was so large; the singer's feet didn't touch the floor. "Sure." She handed over the plate, and sat down next to her.

"Thanks." Rachel bit her lip and then quickly kissed her on the cheek before picking up the slice of cake, and taking a bite.

Baby Lily kicked, and Brittany gave her a thumbs up.

* * *

**_Saturday_ **

.

.

.

In the two weeks she'd been living at the Berry's, Quinn had slept in her own bed for only half of that time. She liked waking up to Rachel more than she felt she should, but she wasn't going to let her conscious get the better of her. She woke up to the two very familiar sounds. She opened her eyes and watched Rachel do her morning work-out routine, while singing along to 'Macho Man'. There were definitely advantages to sleeping in the Diva's bed.

"Good morning." Rachel said breathlessly as she hopped off the machine.

"Morning." Quinn squeaked and then coughed.

"Good sleep?"

The blonde nodded. There was a thin layer of sweat over every inch of skin she could see. Sweat should not be this sexy.

"Good." The singer smiled, and it always amazed Quinn that Rachel always seemed happy that she was doing well. "I need a shower, I'll be back in a bit."

"Okay. Have fun!"  _Have fun? What the hell?_

"I will try."

When Rachel walked out of the room, Quinn stared up at the ceiling and her focus went to the dent that they'd made with the phone. The other girl had left her work-out playlist on, and the blonde was content to leave it playing. She was too busy thinking about Rachel, and how the singer's body moved when she exercised; how certain muscles tensed and how her face became even more determined than usual. She could literally watch the singer for hours. Charlie must have a field day whenever it happens.

She stretched out and closed her eyes; hoping she could take her mind off Rachel's body and pretty face. It didn't really work, and after a while she shook her head and mumbled 'Damn hormones'

"Why are you damning your hormones?"

She opened her eyes and looked up at the singer. "You know." She shrugged.

"Not really." Rachel laughed. "Hungry?"

"You have to ask?" She snorted.

"That's a relief, because I brought you up some breakfast."

Quinn sat up and saw the plate in the other girls' hand. "Is that a croissant with tuna and apple sauce?"

"Yes." The brunette curled her lip.

"How did you know that's what I wanted?" The pregnant girl asked; genuinely impressed.

"I've been feeding you for quite a while; I've picked up on your cravings - As disgusting as they are." The singer put the plate down on the side table and hopped on the bed.

"I and Lily thank you." Quinn said, and took a huge bite of her food.

It didn't take her long to wolf it down, and when she had finished, she had to brush her teeth. Normally she waited until she was sure wasn't going to gag before brushing, but Rachel kept pulling faces. When she got back into the room and lay back down on the bed – Rachel cozied up to her.

"Tell me a story." The singer said.

Quinn looked at her with a raised brow. "A story? What kind of story?"

"One with a happy ending. And some princesses."

"Really?" She asked incredulously.

"Yes." She felt the smaller girl nod once.

"Okay then. Uh, Once upon a time, there was a princess, she lived a happy life. The end."

"That was incredibly short. I demand more detail in this princess's life."

"You demand, do you?" Quinn smiled.

"I do! Yes. What did this princess look like? Did she get married? Did she have an evil step-mother?"

"Fine. More detail you shall have. Once upon a time there was a beautiful young Princess named-" Quinn looked around the room for some help, then out of the window. "- Rain, who lived in a grand palace with her kind father; the King, and his trusted companion-"

"Rain? What kind of a name is Rain?"

"If you're going to interrupt, I'm not telling it."

"Okay. I'm sorry." The singer chuckled.

"Right. Now, although she was happy, she was also quite lonely. When she was a child she had tried to befriend some of the villagers, but they would run away from her-"

"This is getting sad already."

"It's a 'Once Upon a Time' story. It's got to have sad bits to make the happy ending, all the more happier! Do you want me to tell you a story or not?"

"Yes I do. I'll try and be quiet."

Quinn smiled. 'Try' was probably as good as it was going to get with, Rachel. "One day, when Princess Rain was sixteen, there was to be a gathering of the Kings and Queens from all across the lands."

"Does it really have to be Rain?"

"Were you like this when you were a kid? Constantly interrupting? What about I shorten it to Ray?"

"Ray is a man's name."

"Ray-chel. Rachel!"

"Princess Rachel? I very much like the sound of that."

"I bet."

"You may proceed with your story now."

"You are pushing your luck, little lady." The blonde said, and entwined her fingers with the smaller girls' "Anyway… All of the Kings and Queens were to join King Lucas-"

"You're just not even going to make names up now, are you?"

"I figured there'd be no point."

"Probably not."

"- and his trusted companion, David, in the palace. When the day came that all the royalty arrived, Princess Rachel saw a handsome Prince, and fell madly in love with him, but he was betrothed to a beautiful Princess named Quinn."

"Oh, really? A beautiful princess?"

"Yup. And Princess Quinn was with child. But little did Prince Finn know that his betrothed had actually had a dalliance with his Knight, Sir Puckalot-"

Rachel laughed, and held on tightly to the pregnant girl in an effort to control herself.

"Rach, if you carry on squeezing me, I'm going to need to go to the bathroom soon."

The singer released her, but continued to laugh. "Just give me a minute."

"You know, I think I'm just going to give up on this story. You keep interrupting."

"No! Don't stop!"

"One more interruption. That's it. One more, and I'm definitely stopping. Okay?"

"Okay." The other girl said as she took in deep breaths.

"- And the child was actually the Knight's. Now Princess Rachel was an intelligent, and occasionally observant young lady, who noticed that there was something between the beautiful blonde Princess and the Knight, and one day, while the beautiful Princess Quinn was out taking a stroll her ladies-in-waiting, Santana and Brittany –"

"Santana is not going to be happy if she ever finds out she was made a lady-in-waiting, and not a princess; or a knight."

"And how will she find out, pray tell?"

"Not from me." Rachel laughed.

"Where was I? That's right. – So Princess Quinn and her ladies-in-waiting were out for a walk, while Sir Puckalot accompanied at a respectful distance behind them."

"Ha! Puck would never do that."

"Maybe. But Sir Puckalot would, so shush. Anyway, As the ladies were walking and talking about the up-coming wedding, Princess Quinn slipped and fell, and Sir Puckalot rushed to her aid. Now - to the casual observer - what the knight did was a very chivalrous thing to do, but to Princess Rachel – who had witnessed the incident – It seemed suspicious, and she came to the conclusion that the baby was actually the Knight's."

"Wait. Was Princess Rachel just following them like a creep?"

"Yes." Quinn nodded. "Hey, don't sulk, I not telling the story; the story is just using me as a conduit."

"Yeah, yeah." The singer sighed. "What happened then?"

"Well, just before the Landsmeet, the Princess took Prince Finn aside and told him of her suspicions about the parentage of the baby." Quinn sensed that Rachel wanted to say something, but the little Diva managed to stay quiet. "However, she hadn't anticipated the repercussions of her plan, when the meet between the royal families almost came to war."

"Jeepers."

"Yeah." Quinn pulled Rachel closer.

"How was the potential war thwarted?"

"Well-"

"Ladies!" Santana barged into the room and looked pointedly at the two girls. "Y'all realize it's Saturday, and therefore mall day? Yes?"

"Okay, I'm done." The pregnant girl lifted her arms in exasperation.

"No, that's not fair, it wasn't me that interrupted!"

"What did I just walk in on?" The taller brunette gave them a smile.

"Quinn was telling me a story, now she won't finish it. Because of you!" Rachel sulked.

"Yeah?" The taller brunette chuckled, and she turned her attention to the blonde. "She seems upset about that. Why don't you just tell her the end or something?"

The blonde gave Santana a devilish smile. "Princess Rachel and Princess Quinn work out their issues and ended up bringing the baby up together."

"Wow. Well." The Latina managed, with a great deal of amusement. "Did they get married?"

"Don't be stupid." The blonde shook her head.

Rachel sat up fully and frowned at Quinn. "Why not?"

She hesitated and gave the taller brunette a helpless look, who gave her an encouraging tilt of the head. "Because same sex marriage wasn't permitted in the land?" She answered slowly, and faced the singer with a wary smile.

"That doesn't sound right." The Diva said disapprovingly. "You should change that."

"Um. Okay. The Kings and Queens all came together and changed the law of the lands, and from that day forward all consenting adults were free to wed whom ever they choose. So Princess Rachel, and Princess Quinn married in the spring, surrounded by everyone they loved, and that didn't include Prince Finn, because he's a douche."

"Better." The Diva beamed. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to get ready for the mall." She said as she got off the bed. "I'm sorry we forgot Santana." And she bounded over to her wardrobe, picked out some clothes and walked out of the room towards the bathroom.

When Rachel was out of sight, the blonde shot out of bed and grabbed hold of Santana's top. "I'm so confused!" She whispered.

"What's there to be confused about Tubbers? You married yourself off to Rach in some weird fairytale story you made up, and she was okay with that." Santana gave her a wide grin. "Quinn and Rachel sitting in a tree- But not too high because the dwarf is afraid of heights, and you're the size of a cow- K.I.S.S.I.N.G."

"Santana, I'm being serious! I swear she's flirting with me, and has been for the last week, but it's entirely possibly I'm making it up in my head!"

The brunette extracted the blonde's hands from her t-shirt, and tried to brush the creases out. "She just told you to change the laws of a made up place so the two of you can marry, for fuck sake! Seriously Fabray! I don't know if that was flirting exactly, but I'm sure as hell that it was something, you know, gay." Santana scowled at the blonde, and seeing the terrified expression on her friends face, she relaxed and rubbed at her face.

Quinn waited for Santana to say something else, because it certainly felt like she was going to say something else. But nothing seemed forthcoming. "What do you think I should do?"

"Talk to her." She shrugged helplessly. "I can't keep giving you the same advice over and over."

"Why not?" The blonde asked petulantly.

"Because you never listen." The brunette sighed.

"Maybe I should start listening." She sighed.

"You think?" Santana asked sarcastically. "Something's gotta give soon, Fabray. But until then, get changed out of your old woman nightgown."

"It's maternity, not old." She narrowed her eyes at her friend as she made her way to her own room to get her clothes and a towel, and wait for Rachel to come out of the bathroom.

Santana was right. Things were changing; she could feel it. She just wasn't sure if it was going to change for the better. But so far, it was looking that way.

 


	22. Twenty Two

**_Sunday_ **

.

.

Quinn woke up with a strangled scream and sat up in her bed; drawing her knees up to her chin. She exhaled deeply as she turned on the light, and then wiped away her tears.

She'd always had nightmares; ever since she was a child; and they had became considerably worse since she'd become pregnant, but she hadn't had a single one since she moved into the Berry home. Until now.

She never remembered them after she had woken up; she was only left with a terrible feeling of foreboding, and a bitter taste in her mouth.

She breathed out again as she picked up the water from her nightstand, and almost jumped out of her skin when the door was flung open.

The sight of Rachel looking dishevelled and frenzied - holding a small luminous pink dumbbell in her hand - surprisingly made her relax quite a bit.

"What happened?" The singer whispered harshly as she scanned the room frantically.

"It was just a bad dream, Rach." Quinn smiled crookedly, and took a sip of her water.

Rachel dropped the dumbbell to her side and gave her a sympathetic look before she fully walked into the room, and shut the door behind her. "If I had a nightmare when I was a child, I would surround myself completely with all my cuddly-bears." The brunette said as she walked around the bed and sat down next to the other girl.

"I don't have any here." Quinn shrugged as she put her water back down.

"No, I know." Rachel smiled and swung her legs onto the bed. "But you  _do_  have me." The Diva scrambled under the covers and looked at the blonde in such a way, that Quinn felt herself flush.

"You don't need to do that, Rach."

"I say this with complete love Quinn - Shut up and lie down."

The pregnant girl laughed, and then remembered that it was coming up to midnight, and quietened herself. "You are very, very bossy Rachel Barbra Berry."

"Yes, and I'm also your cuddly-bear substitute."

"Okay." Quinn agreed, then lay back down; facing away from the smaller girl, and turned off the light. There was still a glow in the room from her lava lamp that Luke had given her, but not enough to disturb her.

Just having Rachel there had calmed her down considerably though, and when the Diva put her arm around the swollen belly, and pulled herself closer to the blonde so that she was right up against her - Quinn sighed happily, and took Rachel's hand in her own.

"Thanks Rach, you being here helps a lot."

"You know -" She felt Rachel's breath on the back of her neck, and moved her head forward - just a little. "Santana told me you were worried that I would leave Glee club when I was spending time with Shelby."

"Did she?" Quinn pursed her lips in annoyance.

The singer chuckled and Quinn felt it all the way down her spine - And then a little further down. This was exactly the reason she had decided to spend the night in her own room. Clearly that hadn't work out so well.

"She did. Even if things had worked out with Shelby - I still wouldn't give up the thing I love just to spend more time with her."

Quinn turned onto her back, and Rachel shifted herself onto her elbow. "I wouldn't have blamed you, Rach. Vocal Adrenalin are really good. Honestly, I don't think we have a chance; regardless of what Santana says."

"Don't be such a defeatist. We're the Little Glee Club That Could. Choo-choo!" The blonde snorted a laugh. "And besides, Quinn - I actually  _like_ that we have to work hard to win. Vocal Adrenalin just assume that they have it in the bag, but we're going to make them sweat."

"I wish I had your optimism. But I know how much you want to win Regionals; and with them, you would've had a sure fire way of winning - because without you - we are totally screwed. I know you love Glee club; I love it too, but even  _I_  would consider giving that up, just to hold that giant, shiny trophy." She gave the smaller girl a coy smile before she continued. "If - you know - I was good enough to be in their stupid club."

"Why do you think you wouldn't be good enough?"

"I don't have your voice."

"You don't need to have my voice. You have your own, and it's perfect the way it is."

"It's not  _trophy winning_  perfect though." The pregnant girl said grumpily, and sighed as she turned back on her side.

There were several long moments of silence as Rachel moved her position to adapt to the blondes, and then Quinn felt sensation of hot breath envelope her ear - and her whole body tingled. "Quinn." The singer whispered. "If I were to only ever hear one voice again - for the rest of my life - it would be yours. Now and forever." The blonde heard a ragged breath come from the other girl, and she swallowed. Hard. "If you weren't a part of my life, I would move to Carmel High in a heartbeat. Glee club isn't the thing that I could never give up."

Quinn stayed still as she digested what Rachel had just said. "Oh." She replied dumbly, and then shook her head at her response. She had a million things she wanted to say, and she felt like an idiot that 'Oh' was all she had managed. God knows what Rachel must think.

She grabbed the smaller girls' hand - that had found its way back onto her stomach - and lifted it to her lips. "You make my nightmares go away." She whispered, as she placed Rachel's hand over her heart.

Rachel kissed her on the back of the neck, and pulled herself in even closer. "Sleep well, Quinn."

"I will."

* * *

**_Monday_ **

.

.

Rachel looked down at the breakfast counter - and frowned. Sometimes she wondered if Quinn had a stomach made of steel with the kind of food she ate. She scrunched up her face as she put the cornflakes and ketchup into the heavily buttered bread, and the very thought of  _anyone_  eating it made her feel nauseous. But that was probably less to do with the sandwich, and more to do with her current state of mind.

She was nervous. She'd basically told Quinn that she loved her - even though she hadn't actually said the words out loud - and at the time Quinn didn't seem to mind, but it could've just been because the blonde was feeling vulnerable and tired from her bad dreams.

Honestly, she felt like banging her head against a wall. She knew that this thing with Quinn was consuming her, and she'd tell herself that she would do something about it, but then she would chicken out because it wasn't the right time.

She sighed and rubbed her face, then carefully put the sandwiches in a bag.

"Good morning Honey."

Rachel looked up at David and gave him a smile. "Morning." She replied.

Her father looked at her with a frown, and cocked his head. "What's wrong?" He asked seriously.

"Nothing." She shook her head and busied herself by putting Quinn's lunch into her backpack.

"Don't lie to me young lady. I know something's wrong."

"Nothing is wrong." She snapped.

"Rachel!"

The singer couldn't even look at him. She felt embarrassed, and anxious, and she really didn't want to talk about how her feelings for the pregnant girl were getting more and more out of her control. "I said, I'm fine."

He put his hand on her shoulder and gently turned her around. "Whatever it is, you can tell me."

Rachel still refused to look at him. She laughed mirthlessly and rested her head on his chest. "I really can't tell you." She whispered.

"Oh, Sweetheart." He sighed as he wrapped his arms around her.

Rachel started to cry. She tried to stop it, but she couldn't. "I'm sorry." She sobbed. And she really was. She knew how much her Dad hated to see her cry.

"Don't be sorry, Honey." David rubbed circles on her back. "Whatever it is, I'm sure it can't be that bad. Unless you killed someone; but if it was Jesse – That's fine."

She laughed into his shirt, and squeezed him. "I haven't killed anyone, don't worry."

"Not even your boyfriend?" He asked hopefully, and she laughed again.

"I'm afraid not."

Maybe she should tell her Dad what was going on. If he hadn't figured it out yet, he would soon enough the way it was going.

Rachel stepped out of his embrace, and looked at the tear stains on his shirt. "I made a mess." She pointed, and David shook his head.

"I don't care about that."

She rubbed her face again and groaned. "If I tell you; you have to promise not to freak out."

"I don't think I can do that. Generally, if someone asks you not to freak out, that usually means that it's something that warrants a 'freak out'"

"Okay." Rachel answered despondently.

"Just think of thing that you need to tell me as a band-aid. You always worry that ripping it off is going to hurt like hell, but really, it doesn't hurt at all."

"I wish I could believe that. This thing will make life… complicated."

"Is this about you and Quinn?"

"What do you mean?" Panic and bile began to rise up from her stomach as she searched his face.

"Your Father and I aren't blind. There have been-" He waved his arm around aimlessly as he searched for the right word. "Glances. And… other signs. Unless of course, that is what girls do. Our only other reference for teenage girls at this point is Santana and Brittany. And they are – whatever they are." He shrugged.

Rachel stared at him for several moments while opening and closing her mouth. "You aren't freaking out."

"No." He rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "I don't appear to be." He gave her a bright smile and wiped away the remains of her tears. "You are right though; it is going to make things complicated. If you two start dating, then there are going to be some house rules. Namely- no more sleeping in the same bed." He gave her a pointed look.

" _Dad!"_ She sulked.

"Don't get huffy with me young lady."

"Sorry." She said, slumping her shoulders.

"Your father and I need to work out the rest."

"I haven't spoken to Quinn about this. I don't even know how she feels."

"Is that why you were upset?"

"Yes." She nodded. "It's making my stomach feel like it's in knots."

"Oh, Honey." He shook his head and pulled her into another hug. "I don't like seeing you upset. You're my Baby. Everything will be alright."

"I hope so." She mumbled, and then quickly pulled out of the embrace when she heard the sound of footsteps on the stairs. "Do I look like I've been crying?" She asked David as she wiped the back of her hands over her eyes.

"You look fine Sweetie." He told her, and put his hands on her cheeks and kissed her forehead. "You look beautiful as always."

"I miss my bed already." Quinn announced as she walked into the kitchen, and sat down next to the singer.

"Tired?" David asked with amusement, as he busied himself with making some mint tea.

"Like you wouldn't believe." The blonde put her arm through Rachel's and rested her head on the Diva's arm.

Rachel gave her father an awkward smile and he laughed. "I've been tired since my mid-twenties, Kiddo. Trust me I can believe. Would you like me to write you a note for school?"

"No thank you Mr. B. I'm sure I'll wake up in a bit."

"Okay, if you're sure."

"I am." The pregnant girl sighed, extricating herself from Rachel, and picked up an orange from the bowl. "I think its time I gave up Sbuck."

"Oh no. Really?"

"Rach, I am almost eight months pregnant, I barely have enough energy to get out of bed, and Regionals is, like, a week and a half a way. I should probably conserve what little energy I  _do_  have, for that."

"That is a very good point." Rachel nodded her agreement – a little  _too_  enthusiastically.

David stood on the opposite side of the breakfast counter, drinking his cup of tea, and smirking to himself. Rachel scowled at her Dad, but that did nothing to stop him looking smug, and the blonde was too busy aggressively peeling her orange to notice she was being watched.

She couldn't decide if it was a good thing or not having her Dad's know about this, but she did feel guilty that the list of people who knew about how she felt was getting longer, but it still didn't include the person who really  _should_  know.

"OH MOTHER FU-ftt - Trucker!" Quinn looked over to Rachel, and David, then to her orange that was rolling on the floor; towards the back of the kitchen. The blonde pursed her lips and stood up from the stool – muttering to herself.

David leaned over to his daughter and whispered; "She's a little cranky today."

"I noticed."

"Today probably isn't a good day to have important conversations."

"Dad! You're just like Santana." She sulked.

He chuckled as he straightened himself up, and put his cup down on the counter. "Have a good day girls." He waved as he left the room.

* * *

**_Tuesday_ **

.

.

It was fairly quiet in the hallway as Santana made her way to the choir room; squeaking her sneakers on the floor as she walked. She wasn't in a massive rush, she'd only be missing Mr Schue talking about something tedious or way too personal. But mostly she was stalling because she wanted to catch that little ass-hat, Josh Macon, and introduce him to her fist.

She'd heard from one of the girls on the squad, that he'd been saying stuff about Izzy on Facebook, but no-one apart from Brittany, Quinn and Rach knew that they were related, so when Missy showed her what he had written, the other cheerleader had no idea what she had done. Santana wanted to chop bits off that bastard, and throw them into a wood chipper.

She kicked her shoe on the wall when she realized that'd she'd missed him, and she decided to just head for the Glee club. Ahead of her, she saw Quinn leave the girls bathroom that always had the 'Out of Order' sign on it, and she whistled to get the other girls attention.

"Jesus, Santana. You scared the crap out of me!" Quinn yelled.

Santana took in her friends flushed cheeks, and came to a conclusion. "Have you been using your  _Massager_?"

"Shut up!"

"Oh come on. What do you think will happen if you say it out loud? I'm not gonna judge."

Quinn glared at her for several moments before her features relaxed. "Okay, look. I recently realized that there was only one thing that could, you know… help. All I'm going to say, is that I have all of Rachel's MySpace videos on my iPod. Okay?"

Santana snorted a laugh and nodded. "Okay."

"You tell anyone…"

"I know! I know!" She took the bag from Quinn's shoulders and they walked towards the choir room.

"Why were you lurking around anyway?" The blonde asked.

"Josh Macon put a really long status on his Facebook about how Izzy is an ugly, lesbian bitch, because she called him out on his homophobia in class. I will destroy that useless shit, I swear."

"I heard about that. Rach was in class when it happened. Apparently your sister ranted for twenty minutes."

"Sounds right."

"You're missing quite the show Ladies."

The two girls turned to look at Sue – who was eating some popcorn – and gave her a questioning look. "What?"

"Vocal Adrenaline certainly know how to put on a performance."

"They're here?"

"They were outside with one of your loser friends from that loser club."

Neither of them said anything. They just looked at each other and ran.

When they barged in through the door, they saw Rachel covered in egg, and Kurt handing Brittany some paper towels. "Oh my God, Rach, you look like you're going to cry." The taller blonde said as she wiped. "Please don't cry."

Quinn grabbed hold of Puck's shirt, and yanked him towards her. "What happened?" She snarled. Not taking her eyes off the singer.

"Jesse, and Vocal Adrenaline."

"That little ponce did  _this_  to her?" Santana pushed the boy angrily. It wasn't his fault, she knew that. But she was beyond pissed right now. She turned to Quinn and asked; "Do you know where he lives?" The blonde nodded. "Right, Puck you're coming with me."

"Do I have to?" He flinched when she spun her head to look at him.

"Yes."

"You're not going anywhere without me."

"Yes I am Tubbers.  ** _You_**  have to look after  _her_." She pointed at Rachel. "Leave me and Puck to do the stuff that won't get you into any trouble." Santana left before her friend had a chance to object, and she was followed closely by the boy.

"What are we gonna do?" Puck asked as he marched by her side.

"I'm gonna need a few minutes to calm down before I can think of anything. Unless you got some ideas."

"When don't I?" He smirked.

She gave him an evil grin. "Good."

No one fucks with the people she cares about and gets away with it. No one.

She looked over to Puck. When he wasn't being a douche, he was actually a good guy to have around – and right now, that's exactly who she needed.

Jesse St. James will burn for this.

 


	23. Chapter 23

“What do you think would happen if a zombie bit a vampire?”

“Really?” Santana growled; drumming her fingers on the steering wheel, and staring at the doors to Carmel High auditorium. “You’re gonna do this now?”

They had been sitting in Puck’s pick-up for fifteen minutes, and so far no one had come or gone. They’d checked Jesse’s home and no one was there, so they figured that the Vocal Adrenaline crowd would come back to school. No such luck.

“Y’know, they probably went out to celebrate or something.”

“You say another negative word, and I’m going to punch you in the face.”

“Hmm.” Puck shifted uncomfortably in his seat, and she could see from the corner of her eye that he was looking at her. “Minus.”

Santana frowned and finally took her eyes off her target to glare at him. “Very funny.” She told him sarcastically.

“I thought it was.” He grinned.

“Yeah, not so much that you actually laughed at your own stupid joke though.” She smiled; feeling herself relaxing slightly.

“I’m not an idiot. You’re fucking scary when you’re angry.”

She raised her brow and shook her head. “Then don’t piss me off.” She said as she went back to watching the door.

“What about if a vampire bit a zombie?” He asked as he put his phone on the dash.

“That’s retarded. A vampire wouldn’t bite a zombie - there’s no blood to drink.”

“So if there were vampires around when the zom-pocalypse started, do you think they would team up with humans?”

“Of course they would. They’d need to eradicate the threat of their food source being turned into the walking dead.”

“Psh. That sucks. What about werewolves?”

“Enough now.”

“Fine.” Puck sulked.

Santana looked at her watch then went back to drumming her fingers. They didn’t really have a plan, she shouldn’t have been so gung-ho about this. Revenge is a dish best served cold – that’s what they say isn’t it? That was the problem though; she never thought clearly when she was angry. She’d calmed down considerably, but she knew that would go right out the window as soon as she saw that son-of-a-bitch. They were all going to pay, but Jesse St. James was her primary objective.

There were so few people she felt protective of. A month ago Rachel Berry was an annoying fly – buzzing around and getting on her nerves. Now, it was like she’d been friends with the girl for as long as Brittany and Quinn. The little singer had actually made their group happier – if not a little crazier – but that was all the more fun!

She turned on the air-con in the truck, and the familiar smell of Juicy Fruit took over the smell of teenage boy. “Hand me a stick of that gum.” She ordered.

Puck handed it over, and then picked up his phone when it started ringing, and held it out; putting it on speaker.

_‘What’s going on?’_

“Nothing, Juno.” Santana replied.

_‘Nothing? Does that mean you’ve done something, and now you’re doing nothing? Or, that nothing’s happened?’_

“You’re too paranoid.”

_‘Not when it comes to you, Santana.’_ They heard a muffled sound; then the unmistakable voice of Rachel. _‘You will **not** do anything that will jeopardize your academic future. Do you hear me? I refuse to be the reason you get expelled, or worse - arrested. Are you listening to me Santana Lopez?’_

“Rachel. What they did to you was _assault_.”

_‘Then we’ll go to the police. That is what they are there for!’_

“Can anyone else hear me right now?”

_‘No.’_

She snatched the phone out of Puck’s hands, got out of the truck and walked far enough away from the boys’ earshot, but not so far that she couldn’t see the doors. “We could do that, yes. But what will happen when the police find out who their Director is; specifically - who she is to you?”

_‘I… I don’t know.’_ The singer mumbled.

“I am not going after your Mom if that’s what you’re worried about.”

_‘It isn’t. I’m worried that you’re going to do something stupid.’_

“I probably will. But I can tell you I won’t get caught.”

_‘Santana.’_ Rachel chided.

“Listen to me – They planned this. They planned it as an attack on our club, because they’re scared shitless that we’re gonna beat them. But what they planned, and what I saw, are not the same.”

_‘What does that mean?’_

“It means - you trusted Jesse and he hurt you. I can’t let that happen. I _won’t_   let it happen.”

_“It probably wasn’t all him.”_   The singer said; sounding unsure.

“I don’t care if it was or not.” Santana snapped. “He hurt my friend! _That’s_   what _I_  care about!”

_“Santana…”_

“No! Don’t defend him. Don’t try and talk me out of it.”

_“There’s a diner on Vine street that they go to sometimes.”_

Santana sighed. “Thanks.”

_‘You aren’t going to hurt them are you? I don’t want that.’_

“Then I won’t.” She awkwardly kicked at a stone that was by her foot. “So - How are you doing now?”

_“I’m clean.”_

“Not what I asked, but, that’s good to know. Has Quinn kissed you better?”

_“Stop it.”_   Rachel whispered.

Santana snorted. “I will not. Not until you two finally get together, and there is nothing stopping you now.”

_“I… I need to talk to you.”_ Rachel paused _. “It’s not urgent or anything.”_

“Okay, Berry. I’m always here.”

_“Thank you. Do you want to talk to Quinn? She’s pacing quite a bit.”_

“Yeah sure. Hand her over.”

_“Murder him! Murder him painfully!”_

“That all you wanted to say?”

_“Yes.”_  And then the blonde hung up.

Santana rolled her eyes, got back in the truck and started the engine. “We got a location.”

“Sweet!” Puck slapped his legs and pointed out the window. “Let’s go.”

 

* * *

 

 

“I should be with them!” Quinn ranted as she put her phone down, and the rest of the club stared at her in varying states of fear. All except Rachel and Brittany.

“Perhaps you should take a seat?” Mr. Schuester asked cautiously, and the pregnant girl turned to glare at him. “Perhaps not.”

“It would be a really bad idea for you to be with them, Q.” Brittany said. “Think about Baby-Lily-Beth.” The taller blonde leaned into Rachel and said quietly – “I don’t know what name she’s got. I’m so confused.”

Rachel patted Brittany’s hand gently and smiled. “You call her what you want.”

Even though Rachel really liked the name Lily, Puck did have a right as to what his child should be called. Quinn told her that she had agreed to Beth, and that Lily would be her middle name, and that was good enough for the singer.

For now.

She watched Quinn stomping back and forth for a few seconds, before she stood up, and got in the pregnant girls path. “Let’s go for a walk.” She said when Quinn stopped abruptly in front of her.

“Why?” The blonde asked grumpily.

“Because you’re scaring everyone.” She whispered.

The blonde scanned the faces of her fellow gleeks and then her gaze fell back onto Rachel. “Okay.” She nodded.

“We’ll be back.” The singer told the group; and she linked her arm into her friends and walked out of the choir room.

“Can we go to the vending machine?” Quinn asked once they’d made it in to the hall.

“We can go wherever you like.” Rachel said as she rubbed the blonde’s back.

“This feels a hell of a lot like you’re comforting me, Rach. When really, I should be the one comforting you.”

“Not true. Maybe, if this was another time – and me - and you - and Santana and Brittany, had never become friends, I might be wallowing in self pity right now. But, we are friends, and I can shake this kind of stuff off now.”

“How does us being friends mean you aren’t pissed right now?” Quinn asked confused.

“Oh, I am very annoyed. Don’t get me wrong about that. And I’m almost certain I can never look at another egg again – But – I don’t know, it’s hard to describe.” She said, looking up at the ceiling.

“Come on, Rach.” The pregnant girl grabbed her hand. “Try and describe. For me.”

She looked up at the puppy dog pout Quinn was pulling, and shook her head with a smile. “I’ve never had friends before. I never thought I needed them – I’d convinced myself of this so entirely that I even fooled myself into thinking it was true. Then suddenly – One day – I have this ridiculous urge to protect a heavily pregnant girl - who I am pretty sure wanted to throttle before that moment - from being attacked by a cold beverage. And you were nice to me, then you were kind to me, and sweet and charming and very, very dorky, and the need to keep you safe became very important to me. _You_   are very important to me. And I don’t just have you. I have one of the fiercest young women I know on _my_   side. And she definitely wanted to throttle me, and now she’s out there looking for the person that hurt me, and wants to hurt them back. Which, saying out loud seems really bad, but I don’t care. And Brittany… Brittany has a way of knowing exactly when you need a hug, and gives you one – That’s her way of protecting people – she envelopes them in her arms. She also has a way of making you see the wonder in things. I haven’t a clue if she wanted to throttle me before. But she’s certainly less aggressive than you two.”

There were a few moments of silence as Rachel realized she was starting to go off topic. “What I’m trying to say is – friends make everything better, they make everything hurt less. It’s like they see this pain you have, and they say ‘Hey, let me take some of that for you, because I’d rather have a little hurt, than you have all of the hurt’ And I have three of the best friends in the entire world. I don’t even notice the hurt anymore, there’s all this love and laughter, and those things defeat the hurt. If this had happened in another time, where we weren’t friends, then I would be a mess right now.” She looked over to Quinn, and panicked when she saw her crying. “Oh my God.” She said as she searched her pockets for a tissue. When she failed to find one, she offered the other girl her sleeve.

Quinn pushed the offered arm away with a laugh. “You’ve had enough mess for today.” The blonde spluttered; using her own sleeve instead. “I think I want a Snickers.” The blonde said when they’d got to the vending machine.

“Then that is what you shall have.” Rachel smiled, and dropped some money into the machine and waited for the thud of the confection. “Here.” She gave Quinn her chocolate and pulled her towards the nearby bench.

As soon as they sat down, the pregnant girl attacked her food, and Rachel looked around. They’d been here before; just before Sectionals, when she’d apologised for telling Finn about the baby. It seemed so long ago now. So much change in such a short space of time. Back then, the best she could hope for was not being punched in the nose by the girl sitting next to her, and now she was making plan – life plans – that involved Quinn and her and Baby.

She had to talk about this. She couldn’t chicken out – not this time.

Maybe she would wait until Quinn finished eating. And that wouldn’t take long.

“Quinn?”

“Mmm?” The blonde looked at her with her mouth full. She looked a bit like a hamster.

“Uh… Do you think… I should… wear my hair up for Regionals?” _Ah, damn it._

The blonde shrugged; still chewing on her Snickers.

“Have you, uh, thought about… where… uh.”

Quinn frowned at her, and swallowed. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine. I’m just trying to form a question. But I seem to be failing.” She laughed nervously.

“What about?”

“I…” She leaned forward and looked passed the blonde, down the hallway, when she heard high heels clicking against the floor. “Miss looks perplexed.” She said when she saw Santana’s sister staring at her phone.

Quinn turned her attention to where she was looking, and nodded. “Howdy.” She flicked off a salute to the woman.

“Do you know why my sister is asking about paint, a pressure washer and Saran Wrap?”

“I thought you always wanted deniability.” Quinn smirked.

“I do. And I got my answer. What are you two doing out here for? I thought there was Glee today.” Izzy asked as she typed out a message on her phone.

“There is.” Quinn said. “I got stressed out, and my back is killing me.”

“It is?” Rachel asked with concern. “Why didn’t you say?"

“I dunno. I was too busy plotting a death, then crying a little, then I wanted chocolate. There’s not really much you can do about it anyway.”

“Massage.” Izzy said distractedly; still on her cell. “My cousin always made me massage her lower back when she was pregnant. _Every_  time she was pregnant. And in the two years I lived with my aunt, my cousin was pregnant for, about, ninety nine percent of the time. I was so happy when I left for university.” She looked up at them and smiled. “That made it sound like it was a terrible experience. It wasn’t really; just when she was heavily pregnant and had terrible bouts of slapping when she got annoyed. Anyway, I apparently have to call my ex and get his pressure washer, then get him to go to Maria’s diner.” Izzy sighed. “Deniability always eludes me.” She shrugged, and waved her goodbye.

The two girls watched her walk away, and then leaned back when she was out of sight. “I could give it a try, if you’d like.” Rachel said awkwardly. “The woman in the birthing class said it would probably help, and I have watched some videos on massaging.” Quinn let out a laugh. “What?”

“Nothing. Just thinking about you watching massaging videos. It’s not funny. Sorry.”

“Obviously, I’m not going to force you or anything.” She squirmed a little in her seat. There were several long seconds of quiet, and Rachel began to worry; the knots in her stomach were back. “Nevermind.” She said; breaking the silence.

“No, no! Sorry, I was lost in thought. A massage would be nice. If you really don’t mind.”

“Yeah, no, it’s okay. Hang on a second.” Rachel said as she stood up. “I’ll be back in two ticks.” Then she ran off in the direction that Santana’s sister went, and caught up with her just as she was about to leave the building. “Miss!” She shouted, and the woman stopped abruptly.

“Rachel, it’s been so long since we’ve seen each other, how are you?” The woman grinned.

“I’m sorry, Miss.”

“Will you ever call me by my name?”

“Possibly, when I’ve left school.”

The woman looked at her watch, and raised a brow. “It’s not school hours now you know.”

“No, I meant after we’ve graduated.” Rachel gave the woman a timid smile.

“Okay then.” The woman laughed. “I’ll hold you to that. What was it you needed?”

“This may seem like I’m taking liberties, but do you have the key to the nurse’s office? Quinn would like a massage, and there really isn’t anywhere else to go. I’d rather not use the bathroom.”

The teacher sucked at her teeth, and pushed her glasses up her nose. “Are you taking advantage of the fact that you are my favourite student?”

“Gosh, no! I would never do that Miss.”

“I was kidding, Rachel.” The woman said as she went into her bag and pulled out the large bunch of keys Rachel was already familiar with, and unhooked the key from the link. “I’ll need it back tonight.” She said as she handed it over. “Why don’t you two just go home?”

“We’re waiting for Santana.”

“Ah, okay. I should probably hurry up then.”

“Thank you for this.” Rachel held up the key.

“No problem. Try not to get into any mischief.”

Rachel gave the woman a nod, and ran back up the corridor to Quinn. When she reached her, the other girl was throwing M&M’S up in the air, and catching them in her mouth. “I have the key!” She announced.

The blonde cocked her head. “But do you have the secret? The key to what?”

“Nurse’s room. There’s a bed in there, and it’ll be more private.”

Quinn held out both of her hands, and Rachel pulled her up. “Awesome.” The pregnant girl grinned, and began walking down the hall. 

Rachel followed closely behind, and began gnawing on her bottom lip. She was nervous, and she tried telling herself not to be, because this wasn’t about her attraction for the other girl, this was simply about making her friend feel less pain, but it didn’t seem to work. There was going to be touching, and she needed to keep control at all times.

 

* * *

 

 

“How the Hell do you think this is going to work?” Puck asked incredulously.

“Look, it’s the best I can do on short notice. Okay?” Santana snarled as she dialed the number.

_‘Hello, Maria’s Diner. How may I help you?’_  The slightly faded Spanish accent Maria had, along with the woman’s musical tone made Santana smile, every time.

“It’s Ana.”

“Who is Ana?” Puck whispered, and she slapped him on the head.

_‘Ana, Sweetpea!  You want your usual order?’_

“No thanks. There’s a group of kids in with you right now –” She looked out of the pickup window, and into the diner. She could see them all, laughing – and could hear them on the phone.

_‘Oh, yes. They come in here often.’_   The woman began whispering. _‘They upset my regular customers; they are very snooty.’_

Santana snorted. “Maria, I need to ask a favour.”

_‘Anything for you, Florecita.’_

“They did something to my friend earlier; something horrible. Can you see if you can stall them from coming out. I’m waiting for my sister’s ex-boyfriend to show up.”

_‘Oh, which ex-boyfriend?’_

“Ash. The painter/decorator guy.”

_‘The one with the hole in his ear?’_

“Yeah.”

_‘He was nice. Chatty, but nice.’_

“Yeah. Could you do that thing for me?” As much as she loved Maria, there was always the danger that you could accidently engage her in an inescapable conversation.

_‘Oh yes. You want me to spit in their Diet Coca-Cola? I would be happy to do that for you.’_

“If you feel like that’s something you’d like to do – I won’t try and talk you out of it.” Santana laughed.

_‘Your friend? She’s a good one?’_

“Yes.”

_‘Then I feel that’s it’s something I should do.’_

“Thanks Maria. I gotta go.” She told the woman when she saw Ash pull up.

_‘Okay, bye, bye. Come by soon!’_

She and Puck got out of the truck, and sidle up to the white van. “Hey.” She nodded her greeting the man.

“What the Hell are you wearing?” Ash asked as he left his vehicle.

She looked down at her clothes, and then back up at him. She and Puck had stopped by his house to pick up some disguises. She was wearing a bright red Beanie, and a black Trench coat. While Puck was wearing a baseball cap and a sweater that his grandmother had knitted him – with the impression that he was about a hundred pounds heavier than he actually was – And a five year old girl. “We’re blending in.” She answered.

“Blending into what? The Willy Wonka factory?” Ash asked as he rolled his eyes, and made his way to the back of the van.

“We don’t want to be recognised, alright?” She snapped.

“Alright!” He held up his hands in defence. “I’m only here because Iz asked me to be. I don’t care about details; just tell me what to do.”

“We got a crap load of stuff to do, in a stupidly short amount of time.” Puck told him as he followed the man to help get the items Santana had ordered.

“You got the Saran Wrap?” She asked; ignoring the boys’ grumbling.

“Yeah.” Ash threw her the industrial sized wrap, and she quickly began work on the Vocal Adrenaline bus. It wasn’t that big, and it basically involved her running around it as fast as she could.

“Park your van in front of the diner, and get the pressure thingy out, and put that whitewash stuff in.”

“This is gonna screw with my washer.” The man huffed.

“You brought the crappy one though, right?” She asked as she did another circuit around the bus.

“Not the point, Santana.”

“Sure it is. Stop complaining and I’ll tell my sister how awesome you are." 

“I’m not into Iz anymore. We’re just friends.”

“Dude.” Puck hit Ash on the arm with a laugh. “That why you came out here on short notice, with a ton of expensive gear to waste on a bunch of rich Glee kids?”

“Man, I hate teenagers.” Ash shook his head, and got back into his van.

When Santana ran out of Saran Wrap, she was disappointed; it had been kinda fun. “This is going to work.” She told Puck as she stood next to him; watching her sister’s ex park up where she’d told him to.

“I’m surprised you’re not just going in there, and releasing your inner Hulk.”

“I promised Rachel I wouldn’t.”

“And you’re actually keeping the promise?” He asked surprised.

“Yeah. I am.” She told him.

“I gotta ask you something.”

“Ask me what?” She frowned. She was trying to keep an eye on the door to the diner, and make sure Ash managed to set up the washer in time.

“Is something going on with Quinn and Rachel? I mean – They’re acting weird, and Quinn is acting like Rachel is more important than me, when it comes to Beth. She’s my kid.”

“Okay, first, I don’t know. And second, you’re an irresponsible shit.”

“That was uncalled for.”

“No.” She turned to look at him. “It wasn’t. Now, get ready. Ash is almost set up.”

“Right, what am I doing?” The man asked; clapping his hands together.

“Puck is going to lure them out; I am going to spray them. Once they’re sprayed sufficiently, you can leave. Although… Quick question – Is that white wash stuff dangerous to people?”

“You’re asking this _now_? What if I said no? What would you do then?”

“Is it ‘no’?”

“No.”

“Well then. Shut up you smartass.”

Ash grinned and patted her on the head. “Ready?”

“Born ready, Blue.” She said as she slapped his hand away.

As the man went back into his vehicle, she positioned herself by the open back door of the van, and turned on the washer. She gave the signal to Puck, and he strolled casually into the diner.

She took in some deep breaths; trying to regulate her heartbeat. This was more intense than her recent – entering without breaking – she’d been getting in to. Maybe it was because Rachel wasn’t here. The little singer had become quite the partner-in-crime.

When Puck walked out of the building, he was being trailed by the entire Vocal Adrenaline club, and she stepped out with the hose in her hand and a snarly grin on her face.

It wasn’t the payback she wanted, but it would do.

* * *

 

Quinn was straddling the bed in the nurse’s office; leaning forward with her dress up over her shoulders, and moaning as Rachel rubbed her back. The noise she was making was doing things to the singer that she had never felt before.

And it was getting harder to do any actual massaging - as her hands were unbelievably clammy.

This had been one of those ideas that had seemed like terrible at the time, and it turned out to be much worse than she’d imagined. Except that it wasn’t.

But it was.

“Quinn, do you mind if we take a small break? My hands are starting to cramp.” She lied, and she felt bad about it.

The blonde groaned her displeasure, but said - “Okay.” She flipped her dress down, leaned back into Rachel and lifted her right leg over to join her left. After a bit of effort, and some help from the singer, the blonde was sitting cross legged on the bed and facing Rachel. “Hey.” She smiled.

“Hey back. I can only assume that my massaging skills were acceptable for you.”

Quinn took hold of her fingers and rubbed them gently. “You could say that, yes. I think this is the first time, in a long time, that I haven’t felt any discomfort.”

“Happy to help.” She had meant to say it playfully, but there was something about the situation that caused her to say it softly and quietly. She was losing her breath, and she had to focus on Quinn’s hands. She was afraid to look at her.

She closed her eyes when the blonde brushed a strand of hair behind her ear. “Rach?” There was a hint of worry in the other girls’ voice.

“I’m fine.” She whispered. Control was slipping.

“Look at me.”

“I can’t.

Quinn moved her hand down to her chin, and lifted her face up. “Open your eyes.” The request was tender, but she still couldn’t comply, and she shook her head. “Please.”

“I can’t.”

“Why?” The blonde’s hand had moved again, and now rested on her neck.

“I’m afraid to.”

“You’re afraid of me?”

“No. I’m afraid of myself.”

“Why? Rach, please look at me.”

She swallowed, and opened her eyes. Quinn was so close to her – and it wasn’t the first time they’d been in this position – but she’d had her emotions in check then.

She stared into pretty eyes. And the pretty eyes stared back.

She didn’t resist when Quinn pulled her in closer, and when their lips met, she let go of her control completely.


	24. 24

"Wow." Quinn whispered against Rachel lips.

"Yeah." Rachel whispered back and leaned in to kiss the blonde again; resting her hands on the pregnant girl's knees; grazing her thumb over the skin.

Quinn moaned as she deepened the kiss without any resistance from the brunette.

This was so much more than she had imagined - And she had a very vivid imagination. Quinn always knew that Rachel's lips would be perfect for kissing, but she had no idea just how perfect. They were so soft and full and nothing she had ever felt before, and she wanted nothing but to feel these lips all the time.

She wondered as their tongues brushed together what it would feel like to have those lips on her neck, or her shoulder, or just above her collarbone, or over her–

"Oh, God!" She pulled away; but not too far. "Naughty thought!" She looked at Rachel – who seemed startled more than anything else – And grinned.

"Quinn?"

"You have very lovely lips."

"You too." The brunette smiled shyly.

"But right now – given my current… state - they're too lovely. For me. And my lack… Okay so there are things that pregnant ladies sometimes go through, that –"

"Are you feeling aroused?" Rachel asked matter-of-factly.

Quinn stared blankly at her for a few moments. Was she really that surprised that the smaller girl had been so blunt? Hmm. No, not really. "Yeah." She shrugged. "But believe me, I really didn't want to stop."

"Okay." Rachel gave her a small nod. "Are we going to have to wait until Lily-Beth is born to do that again? Because I'm not sure I can wait that long – Not now that I've already had a taste. So to speak." The singer's eyes fell to her lips, and Quinn could feel the flush getting stronger.

"No!" She said abruptly. "Won't have to wait long. Just as long as you stop looking at me like that. It's really not helping"

Rachel gave her a wicked grin, and placed a quick kiss on her lips before she jumped off the bed and held her hand out for the blonde. "Then I'm not going to be able to look at you at all."

Quinn took the offered hand and sighed as she hopped onto the floor. "You not looking at me would be worse. I like you looking at me."

"So which is it going to be?" Rachel asked; her grin still wide. "Looking?" She raised her left hand. "Or not looking?" Then she lifted her right hand, and moved them both up and down like a weighing scale.

The blonde frowned and puckered hip lips in pretend thought, and then took hold of the other girls' hands and pulled her closer. "I see what's going on here." Quinn leaned in; her lips just close enough for them to be breathing the same air. "You already know you have the power in this relationship."

Rachel let out a small chuckle. "No." She whispered. "I don't. Not if you knew what you did to me."

The blonde closed the small gap and kissed her again.

Nope. She would never get tired of doing this.

She straightened herself up when she started feeling those pesky fuzzy feelings again, and exhaled. "This has been a crazy day." She said after she smoothed out her crumpled dress.

"It has." Rachel agreed as they made their way out of the room. "But a day that ends with me getting the girl - can be as crazy as it wants."

"Mmm hmm." The blonde agreed.

Rachel locked the nurses office after they left; putting the keys in her pocket and then they took each others hands - like they always did - and walked back to the choir room.

"Is it weird that this feels really normal?" Rachel asked. "No, not normal - Right."

"You mean, like this was always going to happen?" Quinn squeezed the other girls' fingers gently.

"Yeah. But no."

"No?"

"No. I mean, yes it was bound to happen. I think. But I was so worried that it wasn't going to – that you didn't feel the same way. But Santana kept telling me that we were perfect for each other, and that I should just wait for you. That or just kiss you. It depended on her mood really."

"She told me the same thing." Quinn frowned. She was annoyed that her so-called friend hadn't mentioned anything about Rachel feeling the same way. Even after weeks of her moaning about it to Santana – She said nothing.

But she did the same to Rachel too. So that probably meant that she had given her the same advice. Which was 'Don't Give Up'. And also 'Kiss Her!"

Obviously Santana wasn't going to tell her how Rachel felt; just as she didn't tell the singer how she felt. That would've broken a trust that they had in her.

What she did do was the only thing she could do. Be supportive.

She smiled. Yup, she had some awesome friends alright.

Just before they reached the choir room, Rachel stopped. "Okay, I need to tell you something."

"Okay." The blonde answered slowly.

"So, yesterday I ended up crying."

"Why were you crying?" Quinn asked; not recalling this happening at all.

"Um. This thing that I've been feeling for you - it's been, well-"

"Taking over your whole damn life, to the point that you have to concentrate hard on doing things you did just fine doing before." The pregnant girl finished the sentence.

Rachel chuckled. "Yeah. For some reason, yesterday morning, when Dad asked me if I was alright, I just… Cried." The Diva gnawed on her lip for a moment. "I sort of told him how I felt, after he sort of guessed."

"Oh." Quinn said nervously. "What was his reaction to this?"

"He said that if something did happen between us, we weren't allowed to sleep in the same bed."

The blonde let out a sigh of relief. She was expecting something much worse than that. "That's it?"

"But I like sleeping in the same bed as you! You're very snuggly, and I like talking to Lily-Beth-Baby while you're asleep." Rachel pouted.

Quinn laughed, and draped her arms over the smaller girls' shoulders and let their foreheads touch. "Given any of the alternatives, I think I can live with this particular rule."

Rachel looked up at her and said nothing for a few seconds, and then nodded. "Fine." Her gaze went back to Quinn's lips again. "So we have to tell them then?"

"Yes." She wanted to kiss her again, but she couldn't risk it out in the hallway.

They heard doors swing open, and she let her arms drop as she listened to the corridor fill with the dulcet tones of Santana shouting.

"Don't you think other people are going to think about doing that?"

"They might not." Puck answered.

"Balls they aren't! Zombie apocalypse happens - and anyone with an ounce of common sense is going to the mall. That's where all the useful shit is! If you want to be properly prepared, then you need to start storing up all this crap in your house, now."

"Why you gotta ruin my plans?"

"I'm not ruining your plans; I'm pointing out the glaringly obvious flaws."

"You suck."

"So does your Mama."

It was only then the two bickering teenagers noticed the new lovebirds. "Oh, hey Rachel." Puck lifted his chin. "How you doin'?"

"Don't mind me." Quinn shrugged. "I'm fine too."

"Yeah." The boy looked around. "You didn't get pelted by eggs."

"Dude." Santana punched him in the arm. "Stop talking and get in the choir room."

He didn't argue, and once he'd joined his fellow Gleeks inside, Santana casually strode up to the girls.

"Did you hurt them?" Quinn asked.

"Nope." The taller brunette answered as she looked them over.

"Why not? I told you specifically to murder them. So if you didn't do that, what did you do?"

"Yeah." Santana said dismissively. "We'll talk about that, just as soon as we talk about the thing that's going on right here." She waved her hand in the general area of her two friends. "This thing. Right. Here."

How the Hell did she know just by looking?

"Is it that obvious?" Rachel asked.

"To me, yeah." Santana smirked. "But then I've been watching this push-pull dance that the two of you have been doing, forever!"

Quinn and Rachel looked at each other, and smiled.

"So, did the two of you just talk about your 'feelings'" She air quoted. "Or, was there some actual makin' out?" When neither replied she laughed. "Thank fuck! I swear, if you hadn't done anything soon, I would've grabbed you both by the heads, and made you kiss."

"That's super creepy." Quinn quirked a brow.

"Like I give a crap." She looked at them again, and smiled. It was her 'I'm really happy for you' smile, and then she spun around and walked over to the choir room door. "Come on, we'll regale you with our thrilling tale, of how we made Vocal Adrenaline's life, slightly uncomfortable."

* * *

 

Rachel skipped the song that was playing on her MP3, and then looked at her alarm clock – it flashed 2:23 a.m. She sighed, and went back to staring at the dent in the ceiling.

She and Quinn had been good. They had told her Dad's about them, and obeyed their wishes about not sleeping in the same bed.

Even though it was really hard.

She hadn't realized until that first night of the enforced rule, how much it relaxed her having Quinn there while she fell asleep. Hearing her breathing. Feeling her breathing.

But it had been a week and a half now. Surely they were allowed one night, every so often!

And it wasn't just the not sleeping in the same bed. No. It was the not having the door closed to at any time if they were in the same room.

What did her Dad's think they were going to do? Really?

Okay, so she knew what they thought the two of them would do. But they wouldn't do that.

Although. They might get close.

She sucked at her teeth as she skipped the next song.

Apart from the dictatorship that was her parents – Things had been going well between her and Quinn. Really well. It had been a little weird at first, but it was only because she realized she'd never been in a relationship with anyone who felt the exact same way as she did. Quinn didn't try and change her; because she didn't want to. She knew her better than anyone else did – all of her faults and quirky little habits. Even her occasional tantrum – And Quinn cared about her in spite of all those things; maybe even because of those things. But honestly, they had become different people – better people – just from being around each other; neither one of them had to change because they fit so perfectly together.

They had hidden their relationship from everyone in Glee club though – apart from Santana and Brittany - it wasn't from shame - It was mostly because of Puck. He was starting to get weird about their friendship, and they didn't want to find out just yet how he would feel about them being together.

She looked at the clock again. 2:24 a.m.

Screw it.

She sat up.

She was going into Quinn's room. Regionals was only a few hours away and she needed sleep.

She crept as quietly as she could and slowly opened the door; once she was in she shut it softly behind, and the felt her way to the bottom of the bed, and then crawled in.

"Hey." The blonde whispered; turning to face her.

Rachel could hear the smile. "Hey back." She put her hand on Quinn's stomach and gave it a gentle rub before she traced her fingers up the blondes' body, up to her face. Once there she cupped a soft cheek and moved in closer.

Every kiss they had was better than the last. Perhaps it was that they were learning about each other every time. Or maybe it was that every time they kissed, she was falling for the other girl more and more.

But they always stopped as soon as it got too… heated.

"Couldn't sleep?" Quinn asked breathlessly.

"No." Rachel shook her head and touched the blonde's lips with the tips of her fingers.

"Me either."

"Turn over." Rachel said giving the blonde a brief kiss.

"Okay." Quinn chuckled quietly.

As soon as she did - The brunette draped her arm around the pregnant girl. "See you in a few hours. Sleep tight."

"You too."

* * *

 

Three and a half hours wasn't enough sleep. Quinn slammed the alarm and returned to lying on her back. She'd managed to sleep through Rachel getting out of bed, which was a blessing really – and at this hour of the day David and Lucas would be getting up, and she really didn't want to find out the consequences of their daughter sleeping in her bed.

She allowed herself a smile, even in her current state of grumpiness.

It had been nice; having Rachel there. She'd missed it so much. And she wondered how she'd manage to sleep alone before?

She had wanted to sneak into the other girl's room last night, but she had been afraid that she'd make too much noise; it pleased her immensely that Rachel had missed her too – and also had the ability to be quiet.

She sat up, and stretched. Should she have breakfast first, or shower? When she left her room and heard Rachel singing in the bathroom, she accepted that the decision had been made for her.

"Moring, Kiddo." David smiled when she walked into the kitchen. "How you feeling? Nervous?"

"Na." She grabbed a piece of bread and put it in the toaster. "Maybe a little." She leaned against the counter and smiled. "Is Rachel up? How's she doing?"

"She's suspiciously calm." He answered and took a sip of his coffee. "It's making me question if I'm actually awake."

"Why?" The blonde snorted.

"Every performance she's ever had, she's always been hyperactively nervous – sometimes for days before. She wouldn't be able to eat anything and trying to have any kind of conversation with her was impossible because she would just shout at us for disturbing her thoughts. There were times I seriously considered sedating her with a tranquilizer gun! But this morning she came downstairs, and made herself some breakfast, and we had a lovely conversation before she went to have a shower. Frankly, it's freaking me out."

"Really?" She asked with amusement.

"Yeah. And I think I know why." He looked at her over the rim of his mug with a quirked brow.

"Enlighten me."

"You."

"Me?"

"Yes, you. She's been much more relaxed since you moved in – and since the two of you have been… together."

"I can't tell if you're saying if this a good thing, or a bad thing."

"No, it's good." He gave her a goofy grin. "And I certainly like you more than her last few relationships."

"And I am extremely happy about that." She replied truthfully.

"But," He started as he walked over to the coffee pot and poured himself another mug. "there is the small matter of what you're going to do when the baby is born. Before, the plan was for you and Rachel to share her room – And that is definitely not going to happen now - while the baby had the room you're in now. But I think - given recent developments – we're going to have to seriously think about putting Rachel in your room, and you and the baby in Rachel's."

"She's not going to like that." Quinn pursed her lips.

"Probably not. But considering how she feels about you, I don't think she'll be annoyed for long." He gave her a reassuring smile.

"I hope so."

"Aw, you're a very cute couple." He rubbed her shoulder gently. "But don't think for one second that because Luke and I love you, that we aren't going to be taking you to one side one day soon, and asking what your intentions towards our daughter are. We aren't going to treat you any differently from her boyfriends. Except of course we adore you - unlike the others - and haven't actually planned where we're going to bury your body. However, don't break her heart. That being said, I really don't want her to break yours either."

"Okay, you're sending out really confusing messages right now."

"I know, Kiddo." He grinned, and patted her arm before he walked out of the room.

 

* * *

 

"Morning Bitches." Santana poked her head through the door of the Den, and gave Rachel and Quinn a thumbs up. "I'm getting coffee."

"No you're not!" Quinn shouted, but Santana was already gone. "Damn it."

"She hasn't had any in days." The taller blonde said as she sat down on the sofa, next to Lucas. "Morning Mr. B." She smiled.

"Good morning young lady." He smiled back.

"Not having any for days is just going to make it worse now." The pregnant girl groused, but then stopped being annoyed when she felt Rachel rubbing circles on her leg while the singer pretended to watch T.V. Quinn was surprised that David and Luke let them share Divine; they were squashed together so closely and there was so much the two men couldn't see.

She smiled. Let Santana feed her addiction. She was already high off hers.

"So, the four of you are driving to school – to catch a bus?" Luke asked.

"Yeah." Brittany nodded.

"Why don't you just drive there?"

"It's all about bonding Other-Mr. B." Santana said as she walked into the room; followed by David. "Or some bullshit like that."

"Santana." David said sternly.

"Yeah, I know." The taller brunette said as she took a seat on the coffee table. "No swearing."

"And yet, you continue to do it."

"I like to test boundaries."

"You're definitely testing something Miss Lopez."

Santana gave the man a grin, and turned her attention to the couple in front of her. "So, are you two ready? We'll be leaving in five."

"I am so ready to go!" Rachel said, and pumped her fist in the air.

"Oh my God!" Quinn laughed loudly, and stopped when her girlfriend glared at her. "Nothing." She shook her head and smiled at Rachel.

"Dude. You are so whipped." Santana said.

"I am not." Quinn sulked.

"You are." The Diva agreed.

"Yeah." The pregnant girl sighed. "I am."

"Can we not have this girl-talk-type-thing happen so early in the morning? And while we're in the room, please? Thank you." David asked; giving them all a pleading look.

"I'm not sure how this falls under the category of girl-talk-type-thing, Dad."

"Well, it doesn't exactly. It falls under relationships as well. And it's just the combination of the two really."

"Are you still coming to see us Mr. B's?" Brittany asked as a way of changing the subject.

"We are." Lucas nodded. "Ree will be coming over in a bit, and we're going together."

"Who's Ree?" Santana frowned. "I thought you were going with my sister."

"That is your sister." Rachel scoffed, and she shimmied out of the chair. "How is it that you don't know her name?"

"That's not her name! Just because she tells you it is, doesn't mean it is!"

"It's on her drivers licence." Rachel looked down at her looking smug.

"It is?" The taller brunette shifted her eyes around the room. "So, why have I been calling her Izzy this whole time, if that isn't her name?"

"Because it is." David smiled. "It's Rhiannon Isobel Lopez."

"I need to process this." Santana stood up. "Come on. Grab your gear and we'll go."

"Yes Ma'am." Quinn saluted, and took hold of the hand being held out by Rachel.

"Let us know when you've got there." The singer said to her Dad's as she pulled.

"Yes Ma'am." Lucas chuckled, and the smaller brunette rolled her eyes.

Once they put their bags in the trunk, Quinn and Rachel cozied up in the back seat, while the other two girls sat in the front. "No making out!" Santana turned in the drivers seat to look at them.

"The Hell? Why not?" The shorter blonde scowled.

"Just fucking with you." The Latina laughed.

"I hate you so much."

Santana waggled her eyebrows and started the engine, and pulled onto the street.

Quinn watched as the Berry house left her view, and smiled as Rachel grabbed hold of her dress and pulled her into a kiss.

Both girls ignored the gagging sounds coming from the front of the vehicle.

Quinn didn't care about that. And really she didn't care about the prohibition of any kind of steamy affection at home; because at the end of the day - Rachel was hers now. And she was Rachel's.

Everything in her life was absolutely perfect. And that included having a Sbuck ball thrown at her head by her stupid friends right now.

Because she was kissing Rachel Berry.

Her Girlfriend.


	25. Twenty Five

 

“Are you ready?” Rachel called out into the school locker room. “We’ve got to go!"

“Keep your panties on Princess, I’m almost done.”

The singer rolled her eyes as she walked fully into the room, and saw Santana staring at the full length mirror. “You look done to me, and Mr. Schuester is beginning to get agitated.”

The taller girl looked at her in the mirror and gave her a small smile. “I think you’re agitated.”

“Well, yes, I am.” Rachel flapped her arms in exasperation and sighed. “What are you doing?”

“Thinking.” Santana said as she turned to look at her friend.

“Is it entirely necessary for you to do that here? Can’t you do that on the bus?”

“I suppose.” Santana shrugged.

Rachel looked at the taller girl and cocked her head. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing’s wrong. Everything’s good.”

“Santana.” She said raising a brow.

“Rachel.” The other girl replied as she walked towards the door.

“Something is going on. You’re being weird.”

“Nothing is going on. I was just thinking about… things and stuff.”

“Things and stuff?” The Diva asked incredulously as Santana marched off down McKinley High hallway, and she jogged to keep up.

“Yeah. But they’re good things and stuff, so don’t worry about it.”

“Are you sure?”

Santana stopped walking and gave her friend a smirk. “Of course I am. You need to stop worrying about me.”

Rachel smiled back. “And why would I do that?”

The taller girl draped her arm around Rachel shoulder and they began to walk again. “Come on Short-Stack, we’ve got a competition to get to.”

As soon as they stepped onto the bus, Rachel could see the relief across their teachers face, and Santana ushered her to the back of the bus where she took her seat next to Quinn.

“Hey.” The blonde said, and took her hand as soon as she sat down.

“Hey back.” She replied distractedly as she watched the blondes tongue brush across her lips.

“Everything alright?” Quinn whispered.

“I think so.” She glanced to the seat in front where Santana sat. “I’m sure everything is fine.” She turned her attention back to her girlfriend. “How are you feeling? You didn’t have enough sleep again.”

“I’m actually feeling okay. I think it’s the adrenalin.”

“Have you not been taking care of yourself, Fabray?” Santana asked, as she turned to kneel on the seat and dangle her arms over the back of the chair. “Sort yourself out, you dozy cow. Also, I call godmother.”

“What? You can’t call godmother like you’re calling shotgun!”

“Why not?”

“Because you can’t!”

“Not a valid reason.”

“It’s my damn decision who has responsibility for _my_   child if something happens to me! And Rachel’s higher on the list than you.”

“Yeah, but Rachel’s like the other Mom. I’m talking about if something happens to you _and_   her.”

“What about my Dad’s?” Rachel groused.

“Okay, okay.” Santana lifted up her hands in defence. “If something happens to the both of you and your Dad’s – I have dibs.”

“No! And Puck is her father, so you know…”

“Can I please be one of her godmothers? _Please?”_

“No.”

“Why the fuck not?”

“Because you’re sixteen!”

“Well, hopefully I won’t be sixteen when you all die.” The taller brunette reasoned.

“I am not talking about this right now.” Quinn said glaring at Santana. “If you’re serious, then maybe we should talk to Izzy about this too.”

Santana puffed out her cheeks and nodded. “Yeah, that’s acceptable.”

“Oh, I’m so glad you approve.” Quinn responded sarcastically, but gave Rachel a knowing smile.

Even though Rachel had found it very depressing – they had actually discussed who would take care of Lily Beth if something happened. They had figured out a plan, and Santana would be part of it, if she wanted to be – which she apparently did - It was a relief to know that their friend was already protective of Baby.

Rachel picked up her backpack from the floor and opened it up. “Brittany?” The taller blonde turned around and gave her a wide grin when she was handed a book of crossword puzzles.

“Sweet. Thanks Rach.” Brittany didn’t waste anytime getting to work.

Then she pulled out a book of serial killers and handed it to Santana.

“Thanks.” The Latina said, and sat back down properly on her seat.

Then she pulled out a banana and her IPod; handing Quinn the fruit and one of the ear-buds. “So what shall we listen to?”

“Something with a beat.” Her girlfriend said as she peeled the banana.

“Any particular decade?”

“Surprise me.” The blonde smiled taking hold of Rachel’s hand again, putting in the bud, and closing her eyes. 

The singer allowed herself to watch Quinn’s smiling face for a moment. She couldn’t linger for too long in case someone caught her, but for a few seconds she was able to take in the beauty that was Quinn Fabray, and then she picked a playlist on her MP3 and pressed play.

* * *

 

Not winning at Regionals was a blow. And the ride home was utterly miserable, because, thanks to Sue Sylvester, everyone knew that this was going to be the end of Glee Club.

No one had spoken on the journey back home; Quinn had fallen asleep on Rachel’s shoulder, Santana spent the whole time consoling a crying Brittany, and everyone else simply seemed lost and dejected.

Rachel had wanted to cry too, but she needed to keep an eye on her girlfriend. Santana’s sister had told them that she thought she saw Mrs Fabray in the audience, but if that were true then the woman had not bothered to even say hello to her daughter, and after that the blonde began to look pale, and it worried Rachel.

The two girls had gone home after declining the invitation from Puck to go to The Barn and get wasted - On the grounds drinking away the sadness was probably not the best idea. And once they were home, she insisted that Quinn went to bed, and she didn’t receive any arguments.

Rachel had only stayed up for a little while before she decided that she just wanted today to be over with and went to bed herself.

It was at five o’clock in the morning when she was shaken awake by Quinn.

“Rach?”

The brunette swatted the hands away, and mumbled, “Too early Quinn. Go back to sleep.”

_“Rach?”_

There was something about the way the blonde said her name that caused her eyes to snap open, and to sit bolt upright, and be on her feet in a matter of milliseconds. “Is it happening? Is it time?” She asked hopping from foot to foot.

“I don’t know.” The blonde answered. And Rachel saw the scared look on her girlfriends face. “Something is happening though.”

She stopped her fidgeting, put her hands together and breathed deeply. She couldn’t be panicking right now. “It’s going to be okay. We have planned for this. It’s going to be okay.”

Quinn let out a chuckle. “It sounds like you’re trying to convince yourself, not me.” Then she winced and held onto her stomach.

She wasn’t going to panic. She wasn’t going to panic. _She wasn’t going to panic! **She wasn’t going to panic!**_

Rachel grabbed hold of both of Quinn’s hands and squeezed. “It’s going to be okay.”

David and Lucas appeared in the doorway of their daughter’s room and took in the sight before them. “Is it happening Honey?” Lucas asked.

“She doesn’t know Daddy!” Rachel shouted.

“Uh. Maybe we should get her downstairs. Rachel, sweetie, would you get Quinn’s ready bag?”

The Diva glared at David, and shook her head. “I’m not letting her go. It’s by her door.”

The tall man wasn’t going to argue with his daughter, and went to get the bag while his husband and daughter took Quinn downstairs.

When he joined them in the Den, Rachel was taking short breaths trying to encourage Quinn to do her breathing exercises, but all she got was the blonde shouting at her to stop blowing in her face - followed by several profanities.

“We should take her to the hospital.”

“I don’t need to go to the hospital!” Quinn screamed. Then her water broke, “Shit.”

“I don’t think you have much of a choice now, Kiddo.”

“Your carpet.” She said distractedly. “I got gross on your carpet.”

“That’s okay Honey. We’ll clean it up when we get back.”

“Dad, why are you still here? Get the car ready!” Rachel screamed at David, who just smiled at her.

“On it.” He clicked his tongue and bolted for the door.

They all piled into the car, Rachel was in the back with Quinn holding her hand, still taking short breaths but at least now the blonde started doing them to.

Rachel pulled out her phone then pressed one of the keys and put the phone to her ear. After a few rings she got an answer.

_‘What? Do you know what time it is? I’ve only just got to sleep for crying out loud, Rachel’_

“Quit your bitching Noah, I know exactly what time it is. Quinn’s gone into labour. We’re heading for the hospital now. In all likelihood it’ll be a while before the baby comes out, but I thought you’d like to know now.” She paused for a second. “Are you still drunk?”

_‘No. I’ll be there. Where is there though?’_

“General. We’ll see you soon then.” And she hung up before he had a chance of saying anything else.

She turned to the girl in labour, “He’ll be there.”

“He... Doesn’t... Need... To... Be...” Quinn said in between breaths.

“He’s an idiot, but he does seem to care about you and Baby. And he _is_  the father.”

Quinn just nodded.

Then Lucas ran a red light.

He’d waited for three minutes before his daughter realised they weren’t actually moving, and shouted at him to move this rusty pile of crap. He silently thanked God that this giving birth thing didn’t happen often - because he didn’t think he could cope with Rachel in extreme bossy, and angry mode on a regular basis. Then he cursed his God seconds later as the blue and red lights flashed behind him.

When he pulled over and waited for the cop to amble over to the driver’s side of the vehicle, he felt Rachel’s eyes mentally stabbing him in the back of the head.

“It won’t be long Sweetie.” He said as the window got tapped.

“Sir. Do I need to tell you what you just did?” The middle aged policeman asked.

“No. I’m sorry. We have a... Uh... situation.” He motioned behind him, and the officer bent down and saw Quinn panting and rubbing her swollen belly; he also saw a very irate Rachel glaring at him.

“Ah.” He said knowingly. “Which hospital?”

“General.”

“Okay. Follow me. There’s at least four more set of lights between here and there that don’t change for at least five minutes.” He smiled at Lucas. “Don’t worry Sir; we’ll have her there in no time.”

“Thank you so much officer.”

Lucas waited as the vehicle pulled out in front of him and he followed it; thanking his God again for Rachel not saying anything. Then apologised to him for cursing him a few minutes before.

* * *

 

Puck had got there before the others. He was pacing back and forth outside the hospital, and sagged with relief when he saw them pull up.

The officer got out the patrol car when the Berry family exited their vehicle and walked up to the two men.

Lucas held out his hand and the man took it with a warm smile. “Thank you so much. Thank you. Our –” He faltered a moment. “-impending granddaughter thanks you too.”

“Not a problem Sirs, and good luck.” He said as he got back into his patrol car and drove off.

“Dad? Could you take Quinn in please? I need to have a word with Noah.”

“Don’t leave me Rach!” Quinn panted as she grabbed onto both of the men’s arms.

“I won’t be long. I promise.”

“Okay.” The blonde nodded sadly.

As her Dad’s escorted her girlfriend into the hospital, Rachel took Puck to one side.

“Police escort. That’s totally awesome.” He grinned at the direction the police car had driven off.

“Yes Noah, it was very thrilling, I almost forgot about the girl in labour next to me. Tomorrow I hope to have a ride on a fire truck.”  
  
“Okay. I was just saying. And in an hour or whatever, when the baby’s out, you’ll think about it, and realise it was pretty cool.” He nodded at her as if he’d made his case, and dared her to argue.

“An hour? How long do you think it takes to give birth?”  
  
“I dunno. Like, two hours or something.”  
  
Rachel just gaped at him, and then shook her head. “It is entirely possible that we’ll still be here this time tomorrow.”

“Shut up! No way, you’re totally lying. You just don’t want me to be there when the baby is born. We all know that you want to be the father. But guess what, you’re not.”  
  
“Okay firstly, if you don’t believe me Google it. Secondly, maybe if you’d actually read those books I gave you, and supported her by doing more than handing her a few dollars you had spare every now and then, I wouldn’t be the only who she can count on during this. Frankly Noah, you really have nobody but yourself to blame.”

He looked down, and kicked a pebble. “Yeah. I know.”

“By the way. She doesn’t really want you in the room with her.”  
  
“What? But I’m the Dad here.”  
  
“I know. This is why I campaigned on your behalf to let you in. She finally gave up, probably due to my awesome powers of persuasion. Although she does have some ground rules.”

“Which are?”

“Well. Firstly, you are not to speak to her. Secondly, you are _not to speak to her_. And thirdly, you must stay at least five feet away from her.”  
  
Puck looked crestfallen. “Way to campaign on my behalf Berry. Jeez, it’s almost like you didn’t want me to win.”  
  
“Considering the circumstances. I think I did pretty well.”  
  
“We both know you can be more persuasive than that.”  
  
“And how persuasive do you think I could be with an angry, scared pregnant girl, whose water’s had just broke, and had been delayed to her journey to the hospital by the police pulling us over. Tell me Noah. Do you really think I have that much influence over her?”  
  
“When you put it like that, I guess I should be grateful I’m in the room.”

“Yes you should. Now tell me what you mean by _everyone_   knowing I want to be the father of the baby?”  
  
“Just that you’re totally gay for Quinn Fabray, which is really hot.”

She punched him in the shoulder.

“Ow Rachel, that hurt!”  
  
“Yes well, I work out, and I have bony knuckles. But really what did you expect?”  
  
“I didn’t expect to be punched! But something is definitely going on with you two.”  
  
“How do you know something is definitely going on exactly?”  
  
“Because I have eyes, and I know attraction when I see it. Not that I’m complaining or anything, it’s now one of my top five fantasies.” He winked at her and gave her a lurid grin. “Ow! Stop hitting me!”

She grabbed his arm and dragged him into the hospital. “Noah, just remember the rules okay?”  
  
“Yeah. Okay. Could you loosen your grip please?”

“No.”

* * *

 

Noah Puckerman liked to think of himself as a guy that laughed in the face of danger. Who kept a cool head when chaos was around him, and who didn’t let anything get under his skin. When he looked at himself in the mirror showing off his Guns - which he did often - he saw what the ladies loved about him, but also, a badass.

He slumped back into his seat five feet away from the screaming pregnant girl and the scary small brunette after he’d thrown up for the eighth time in the space of the five hours they’d been there.

Rachel had text the other Gleeks - and Mr. Schuester two hours ago - And he did wondered why - and how - the Diva had their teacher’s number, but didn’t dare ask as she had the look of the devil about her. By half eight they were all outside – some of them still hung over - but the nurses said they weren’t allowed in the room, so Rachel sent them home and they told her they’d be back later.

But they all just went down to the cafeteria for an hour before going back up. They weren’t missing this.

Mr. Schuester, Miss Pillsbury, the two Mr. Berry’s and the whole club were sitting uncomfortably in the waiting room chairs when Puck went out to give them an update, and to get away from the two girls. He’d made the mistake several times of not obeying Quinn’s rules, and he’s been screamed at, slapped, and at one point bitten. And that was just Rachel. Quinn wasn’t so pleasant and she’d hit him in his sensitive man area whenever she could reach it.

Sometimes, even when he did obey and sat in his chair in the corner she would throw ice chips at his head, and man, did she had a wicked aim.

“How is she?” Mr. Schuester asked getting up and walking towards the boy. Slightly distracted by the red marks on Puck’s forehead.

“Eight centimetres.”

“That’s pretty far along.”

Mike, who had gotten out of his seat when Puck had come out, stood next to him and put his arm around the other boy’s shoulder. “You look rough dude.” He said with softness in his voice.

“Yeah. Feeling it bro. Who knew just waiting for a baby to come out would be so exhausting?”  
  
“Imagine how Quinn feels? How’s Rachel doing?”

“I was pissed when I found out she was going to be the birthing partner, but I seriously don’t think anyone else could do it. She looks like she’s about to pass out, but you know Berry, she’ll do something great or die trying. Honestly, she’s the only one Quinn calms down for, when ever I go near her… well, it’s not pretty. And the language coming out of both of them is disgusting. I blushed. No, seriously, I did. I would not have believed Rachel knew some of those words. But she does man. She does.”

“NOAH!”

Puck could see Rachel’s head sticking out of the doorway with an angry look on her face.

“Coming.” He gave her a forced smile, and she went out of view. He turned to his friend shaking his head. “She makes me want to pray. She’s the only girl I actually want to be a good Jewish boy for. Because I swear, when she looks at me sometimes, I can see her plotting my death.”  
  
“She just stressed dude. Chill.”

“No! She wants me dead. I know it.”  
  
“Actually, you know what? I think you’re the one who’s stressed. Real life sucks huh?”  
  
“NOAH! I swear if you don’t get in here right now, I’m castrating you.”  
  
Puck raised his eyebrows at Mike, as if to say ‘See’ and slinked back into the room.

* * *

 

At two thirty P.M - ten high school students, one high school teacher, one high school counsellor, and two kind of grandfather’s were standing in front of the glass, peering in at the small new born wrapped in pink.

“Oh my God she’s so cute! I want one.” Brittany said with her forehead pressed against the window.

Santana looked up at her friend with a frown. “Don’t even think about it.”  
  
“Why not?” The blonde asked the Latina.

“Because it’s not a fucking puppy B.”

“Santana, keep the language to a minimum please.”  
  
“Yeah.” The cheerleader said dismissively. 

Puck ignored everyone around him. All he cared about was the baby that he created a few feet away. Well, okay, Quinn did most of it, pretty much 99% of it actually, but he helped, by having sex with her. That was it really. But that little person in there has half of his DNA.

He was aware of someone standing next to him. Then a deep voice whispered, “Something isn’t it?”

Puck had met David Berry several times now since Quinn lived with the family, and he was over there to check on the mother to be. He was often a little confused by how comforting the man’s voice was to him. The guy could tell you anything, but you knew that when he said it, everything was alright.

“Yeah.” He nodded. “She’s so perfect and little, and… everything.” He was utterly lost for words.

“That she is.”

“I am so scared.”

“Scared is good, Noah.”

“Really?” He asked tearing his eyes away from the bundle to look at the taller man.

“Trust me - it is. It keeps you on your toes.” David smiled. “But you’ll be fine, Noah.”

Puck took in a deep breath as he focused his attention back to his daughter. “Thanks Mr. B.”

“Don’t thank me.” He patted Puck on the shoulder. “Enjoy this moment. It’ll be one of the most memorable and happiest moments of your life. And I can guarantee to you, that you will find yourself smiling when you think of this.”

Puck felt a hand touch his fingers and turned to see Rachel. “Hi.” She said with a tired smile. And never before had he felt such an affinity to the singer than right at that moment.

“Hey.” He said back and brought her into a hug - to the surprise of everyone - including himself. “How’s Quinn?” He asked pulling away.

“Sleeping. I wouldn’t be surprised if she slept for a day.”

“Rachel. I just want to say I’m sorry for earlier. I was an Ass, but you were great in there. I couldn’t have done it.”

She hugged him again, and he couldn’t stop himself from hugging her back. “The nurses have agreed to let us both in there, to hold her. If you want to that is?”  
  
He wasn’t sure what the noise was that came from his throat, but the wide goofy grin on his face spoke volumes.

The nurse handed her to Puck first, telling him how to hold her correctly. He smiled, and even if he wanted to, he couldn’t stop. Rachel watched from outside, and turned to Miss. Pillsbury.

“Miss. I know you may think this highly inappropriate, but do you think you could distract the nurse for me? She said that we weren’t allowed to take photos, which I think is _completely_  unfair, because I want memories of this, and so does everyone else.”  
   
Emma smiled something like a wicked smile. “I could probably inform them of many ways they could make this place more hygienic.”

“Thanks Miss.” The brunette said, stopping herself from embracing the older woman.

Rachel informed everyone of the plan, and they all waited for the counsellor to distract the nurse. Then, a few at a time, they all went into the small room and had their photo taken with the baby.

Everyone except Puck, he just went and sat down on the armchair.

“It’s all go isn’t it little one.” He said to his daughter after the rest of the club had their pictures taken. The way he looked at her made Rachel take a photo.

“Rachel!” He chided, quietly.

“What?”

He stared at her for a moment and then sighed. “I dunno. It just feels like you’re capturing this moment, because I might not get another one.”

“Why?” She asked with a frown.

“I don’t know.” He shrugged. “I just have a weird feeling.”

“I think that’s called fatherhood, Noah.”

“No.” He sighed. “It isn’t that.”

“You sound pretty certain of that.”

“Quinn’s Mom was here earlier.”

“So?” Rachel didn’t like where this was going.

“She told me she wants Quinn back. She threw her husband out. And now she wants her daughter back. She talked about putting Beth up for adoption.” He looked at the singer, and the anger was evident. “It would be for the best, she said.”

“What? What did you say?”

“I told her she would have to go through me if she ever tried to put her paws on my daughter.”

“Good. Good.” She nodded. “But Quinn wouldn’t allow it to happen.”

“You don’t know her, Rach. She can get inside Quinn’s head.”

Rachel rubbed her face and groaned. “I can’t think about this now.”

“Well, I’d start thinking about it soon if I were you.” He said and shook his head, but then looked down at the little girl in his arms and smiled. “Hello baby Beth. I’m your dad.” He said to the pink bundle. “Please don’t forget me.”

“Noah.”

“Wait your turn, Rachel.”

“No. Listen to me.” She said kneeling down putting her hand against his face, forcing him to look at her.

“What?”

“Please don’t treat this like this will be your only time with her.”

“Why not?” He snapped, but quietly so the baby wouldn’t be disturbed. “It’ll save me from the grief that will come later.” Before she could say anything - he got up slowly and gently passed the infant to Rachel then stormed out.

She sat in the chair he’d just vacated, and started to rock back and forth gently.

“He’s angry, I understand that. He thinks you’re going to be taken away. And, I’m worried that will happen too Baby Lily-Beth. But you know what? Even if it does happen, your Dad will always love you,” She said as she began to cry. “and so will I. All those people who came in to see you earlier, they’ll love you too. Even Kurt; and I’d understand how you might be saying to yourself, well, he didn’t seem to love me. But he does. Not wanting to touch you is his way of showing he cares. And more than anyone, so does your Mommy – especially your Mommy.” She carefully removed one of her hands from the bundle and wiped away her tears. “But I don’t want to think about what might happen.”

She let out a sigh and carefully stood up, putting the baby back into the Fabray cot; and then took a picture of herself and Beth-Lily. When she looked at the photo on her phone, she spun around quickly, and saw the nurse glaring at her with a frown.

Damn.

Then she looked at the edge of the glass and saw thirteen people looking at her with embarrassed smiles.

Lousy look outs the lot of them.

 


	26. Chapter Twenty Six

"Now, I know there's only a few weeks left of the school year," Will Schuester waved his arms excitedly as he addressed his pupils in the choir room "and we were lucky enough to be given a second chance by Sue, but we still have to think of next year." He looked at Rachel for a long moment, but the brunette wasn't paying attention. She was in her own little world.

"We need to be better." He continued with a hint of disappointed that Rachel seemed to be disinterested. "We were  _so_ close at regionals, it just wasn't enough. We have to work harder."

"Yeah, but we worked our asses off  _this_  year!" Puck scoffed. "And where did that get us?"

"I think, considering we were only a fledgling club, we did incredibly well! With more practice, we can only get better." Will clasped his hands together, as if in some sort of prayer. "I'm sure Rachel has some ideas." He gestured towards her, but got nothing. "Rachel?" He asked tentatively.

"Noah's right. What's the point?" The singer finally spoke.

Puck shook his head slightly. "That's not exactly what I said, Rach."

"It might as well have been. We're going to lose next year too. Why should we be happy that Coach Sylvester gave us a reprieve? We'll fail anyway."

"You don't know that, Rachel." Will approached her tentatively, and every Gleek in the room held their breath.

It had been less than a week since they'd lost regionals, and more importantly since Quinn had given birth and moved back in with her mother; and taking Baby Beth Lily with her. Rachel didn't even know it had happened until  _after_  it happened. She'd got home from school and found a note on her bed.

And she hadn't been her usual positive and bubbly self since.

Puck had been right - Quinn's mother had got inside her daughters head and now she was back at that miserable house, and no one had been able to see her. Everyone that went near the house was immediately sent away by Judy Fabray.

"You're right Mr. Schuester." Rachel stood up abruptly and picked up her bag. "I don't know that. But quite honestly, I don't care about this" She waved her hand around the room. "right now." And she began to walk out.

"Rachel, there's no need to leave."

"Perhaps Not. I appreciate what you're trying to do Mr. Schue, but I'm not feeling especially gleeful, and my mood will only be a hindrance to everyone here." She glanced over to her team mates and gave them a sad smile before she left the room.

"Should someone go after her?" Tina asked looking around.

"I dunno. Maybe she should be left alone." Santana said, and Brittany took her hand as she stared at the swinging door the singer had just gone through.

"I'll do it." Everyone turned to look at Puck.

"Is that a good idea?" The Latina asked. "I mean, she looks like she could crack at any moment."

"Don't you think that's a damn good reason  _to_  go after her?"

"I guess." She shrugged. "I just... I don't know what to say to her. Do you?"

"Not really, but someone's gotta try. I don't want to feel all guilty if she  _does_  crack, and one of us could've done something to stop it."

"Good luck!" Artie said, and gave him the thumbs up.

"Yeah." Santana sucked in her lips. "Tell her I'll call her later."

"Sure." He nodded, and ran out of the choir room.

It didn't take him long to catch up to Rachel, as she was standing in the school enterance under cover from the rain and just staring up at the sky. He stood next to her and put his hands in his pockets, and rocked back on his feet.

Well she wasn't yelling at him, or crying, or anything. That was a good sign. Maybe.

He pulled out a pack of cigarettes and matches, then lit one up.

Rachel turned to look at him in disgust. But then her face changed. "Can I have one?"

"No." He scowled down at her.

"Why not?" She asked petulantly.

"Because I refuse to be responsible of the free fall of Rachel Berry's singing career."

"You're already responsible to the free fall of my life." She mumbled.

"What?"

"Nothing. Just let me try one. It's not like I plan on taking it up as a habit."

"That's what they all say. And I'm still saying no. Aren't you the one who says that a singer's voice is their instrument. And without it, something, something, something. Blah, blah, blah."

"And without it, is like a violin without strings. You were quite close there. I suppose I should be grateful you at least half listen to me."

"Yeah you should, there are plenty of people that I don't listen to at all." He said casually, and smiled when she gave a little laugh.

"I'm honoured." She breathed in, and out slowly. "I've been acting weird lately."

"Yup. It's not like we don't understand why."

"But I'm not the only one hurting here."

"True."

"Is everyone talking about me?"

"Not around me, Santana and Brittany they're not. They wouldn't fucking dare."

Rachel let out a sigh, and put her hand on his arm. "And how are you? We haven't really spoken."

Puck tensed for a moment.

How was he? He was angry as hell, and wanted to break things. But he couldn't let Rachel know this. "I'm about as well as you'd expect. They only things that are stopping me from seeing my baby, are a bitch of a woman, and a door. It's frustrating."

"Yeah." She agreed as she dropped her hand.

"Want to go somewhere? I have the car."

"Like where?"

"Where ever you like, Rach."

"I need to go to the library."

"Okay. Not my idea of fun, but if that's where you want to go, let's roll." He turned to her with a beaming smile, and then flicked his cigarette away as he ran off in the direction of his car, jumped in, and drove it right up to Rachel. "Get in then."

"Why are you doing this, Noah?" She asked as she buckled up.

"Doing what?" He frowned.

"This. Driving me to 'where ever'. Willingly spending time with me."

"We were worried about you is all."

"So you're simply making sure I don't go crazy or something?"

"Yes, Rach, I care. I know, it's a shocker, who woulda thought eh?"

The singer smiled. "It is quite the shocker, yes. But I  _am_  fine."

" _Yeah_... Nope. Nothing about you is making me think everything is all rainbows, fluffy bunnies and kittens in your head."

"It doesn't need to be. I'm fine. I promise."

"If you're sure." He said giving her one short nod, and turned his full attention the road.

"I am." She muttered, then rested her head against the window and closer her eyes.

She was lying to him of course. She wasn't fine; she felt like she wasn't ever going to be fine ever again. She was angry and upset that Quinn had just left without telling her to her face. All she got was a note that said,

_We've gone back to Mom's. I'll call you when I can. I'm sorry._

But she hadn't called; Rachel had tried calling her, but the line was dead. Quinn must've have turned her phone off; or changed her number. She, Santana and Brittany had gone to her house the next day and were told by Mrs Fabray that if they came back she'd call the police.

That woman was an evil bitch.

She just wanted to speak to her girlfriend.

She knew she was depressed, she'd looked up her symptoms online; but her internet search just confirmed what she already suspected. Her Dad's were fussing over her, when she actually left her room, and her friends walked on eggshells around her. Even Santana was acting like she was some fragile china doll. She only wanted to hear Quinn's voice.

She wanted to know that she wasn't out of her girlfriends life; that Quinn just needed some time alone. She could cope with that.

It was the  _not knowing_  that was killing her.

She just felt so numb, but she was trying her best to do normal, everyday things.

"We're here."

"Oh." She said as she opened her eyes, and looked out the window. "It's stopped raining too."

"Things are looking up." He smiled, and opened his door.

"Maybe." Rachel replied without enthusiasm, and he followed her into the building.

She didn't know why Puck was coming in with her, and she was convinced that he'd never set foot in the public library before. But he was here, and she was actually quite glad of his company.

"Rach, what we doing here?" He asked glancing around the large room.

"Well  _I'm_  here to check out some library books; surprisingly. And, also to print off the photos of Lily Beth after she was born."

He gave her a wide goofy grin. "Really?"

"Yes. But you can't be with me, I don't want you looking over my shoulder. It'll just irritate me. So go and look at some car magazines or something."

"They have those here?"

"Of course. And before you ask, I don't know if there's any boob magazines, so why don't you go and look for yourself."

"Who the hell calls them 'boob magazines'?"

"I do. Now go away." She waved her hand in the direction of where the newspapers and magazines were.

As he left on his mission of finding some porn in the public library, Rachel connected her phone to the PC and pulled up the photos. She clicked through them slowly, there weren't many, she wasn't much of a photo taker. There was one of a bird on the tree outside her window, followed by the one which was the reason for the dent in Quinn's ceiling. A brief smile crossed her lips as she looked at that photo, and remembered that she made the blonde promise not to delete it, and how Quinn had said that it made her look like she'd gone critical. She still didn't know what that meant, but to her, the light behind Quinn outlined her profile, and made her look like an angel.

After that picture, there were several of her semiconscious at The Barn, and then finally the ones of Baby Lily Beth.

She printed the ten photos off in duplicate, and printed one copy of the picture of Quinn. Then went to find Puck, who was still going through the magazines.

"Here." She said handing over the photos.

When he took them, he held them to his cheek. "Mmm. Warm."

Rachel put a hand on her hip and cocked her head "Are you done?"

"Yeah. No. Wait." Then he pressed them to his other cheek. "Mmm. Okay. Done."

She laughed, and held onto his hand.

"Rach?" He asked quirking his eyebrow up.

"Noah."

"Why are you holding my hand?"

"We're not going steady now you know. It's just a friendly gesture, I don't know what you know about dating. But the touching of hands does not equal relationship."

"Ha. Ha." He deadpanned. "I just wasn't expecting it, that's all. And I know plenty about dating. Thank you."

"Fucking isn't dating." She pointed out.

Puck's eyes went wide with surprise. "Rachel! Oh, my God!"

"My God too you know."

"I don't like this conversation. There's too much swearing and religion."

"I agree." And with that she got up on her tip toes, pulled him down, and kissed his cheek.

"What was that for?"

"Being a surprisingly good friend."

"Thanks. I think. You want a ride back home?"

"Yeah. Just give me a minute, I still haven't got my book."

"Nerd." She glared at him for a long moment, before he started squirming under her scrutiny. "But the best kind of nerd."

"Hmm." She pursed her lips. "It wouldn't hurt for you to actually read a book."

"I'm not a reader. I'd rather work on my Guns."

"I'm all for keeping in shape," She said as she pulled Puck towards the fiction section. "But a fine balance can easily be worked out. The brain needs to be exercised too."

"Okay. Fine. I'll try and work on my brain exercises."

"You're just saying that to shut me up aren't you?"

"Maybe." He drawled. "But I'm supposed to be taking care of you here, not the other way around. You don't need to worry about me, or my brain."

"And you don't need to worry about me!" She halted in her tracks, and spun to face him. "You have more of a right to be upset about what's happening than I am." She hissed; trying to keep her volume down.

"I  _am_  upset. But there's nothing we can do about it, is there?"

"No." Rachel clenched her jaw tight. "I'm not in the mood to read anything. Can you just take me home?"

"Yeah." He nodded solemnly. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to piss you off."

"I was already pissed off Noah."

The moment she stepped through her front door, she heard her dad calling out. "Is that you Honey?"

"Yes, it's me Daddy."

"It's almost dinner time." Lucas said as he watched her walking up the stairs.

"I'm not hungry."

"You have to eat something."

"Maybe later." She said dismissively. "I just feel a bit unwell." She carried on walking until she reached her room, and locked the door.

As soon as she sat on her bed, she pulled out the photos from her backpack, and placed them on the blanket. Then regretted it. Her time with Noah had made her feel slightly more human, even if it ended on a sour note. But now that she was alone, and looking at these pictures, it brought everything back.

She shook her head. "Shit."

Then she went into the cupboard of her bedside table, and pulled out an empty photo album. She laughed bitterly at the words  _Happy Memories_  embossed in pink on the cover. Then one by one, pulling back the plastic sheet, placed the photographs delicately on the black card. Writing a description in pink pen, with sparkles, and carefully flattening the sheet over.

When this was done. She turned on her IPod, put the buds in her ears, and eventually fell asleep.

* * *

 

"Quinnie?" Quinn's mother called through her bedroom door. "Carla is here to take care of the baby."

The blonde looked down at her daughter in her arms, and rocked her gently. "Carla doesn't need to be here. She can go home."

Judy Fabray opened the door, and barely looked at Quinn or her grandchild. "Darling, you need to stop spending so much time with her if you're going to give her up for adoption."

"I don't think I should give her up." She said quietly as she looked down into curious eyes.

"We've talked about this Sweetie, it would be best for your future. You can have another child when you're older, and mature enough to deal with it. I've already spoken to someone who would be interested in adopting her."

"Who?" Quinn snapped her head towards her mother.

"It's not important." Judy strode towards her and took Lily Beth away from her arms. "You're becoming too attached to the child. I'm doing this for your own good Quinnie, so please stop making this harder."

Quinn said nothing, and her mother let out an exasperated sigh. "I'm speaking with the lady that wants to adopt her tomorrow evening."

"She's coming here?"

"No. I'm meeting her at Cafe Claude. You can come if you like, she seems respectable enough."

"What does she do?"

"A teacher, I think."

"You think?" Quinn asked angrily. "You're just going to hand my daughter over to someone you clearly know nothing about?"

"Well, that's why I'm meeting her."

"You know what, I think I will come with you." Quinn snarled.

"There's no need to be so abrasive Darling." Judy admonished. "I don't want you picking faults with her from the start."

"If she's going to be the mother of my baby, I'll pick as many damn faults with her as I like!"

"I'm not talking to you while you're in this mood." Her mother huffed; and marched out of her room with her daughter.

Quinn pressed the heels of her hands against her eyes, and rubbed as the tears welled up.

She knew that her mother only had her best interest at heart, but that didn't stop her from thinking that going through with an adoption was the right thing  _for her_. She'd been putting it off for four days now, hoping that she'd stop loving her daughter so much, or that her mom would love Lily Beth enough to see that she belonged in their lives. Of course, neither one of those things happened, her mother was still indifferent towards her grand-daughter, and Quinn just loved her more and more with each second.

Quinn gave one last swipe of her eyes before inhaling deeply before getting off the bed, and resuming the search for her phone.

She hadn't looked at it in days, she couldn't face all the messages she knew she would've gotten. But she swore she had it when she moved back in; but maybe she hadn't. Maybe she'd left it at the Berry home. She instantly felt sad at thinking about Rachel, her girlfriend probably hated her for what she'd done. She shouldn't have moved out like that, she regretted being such a chicken shit about it. She also regretted moving out at all; she had the perfect family there.

Why did she let her mother talk her into this?

"Because I'm a coward." She muttered angrily.

Judy had made her feel guilty about being alone in the house since her father left. Quinn may not have liked her mother very much, but she didn't want her all alone. Quinn wondered if her being there really made much of a difference, her mom didn't really speak to her, unless it was about putting Lily Beth up for adoption, or how she should've got rid of the baby before it was born. Mostly Judy drank, took her prescription pills and bitched about her cheating husband.

Quinn missed being in a house that felt like a home. She missed having a conversation at the dinner table, and the smell of the den.

She missed David, and Lucas

And Rachel.

She should go and see her; to explain. Her mother had told her she should keep her distance from her friends for a while, but Quinn couldn't see any reason to. She looked at the clock and saw that it was almost 10 PM; it was too late now.

Tomorrow. Maybe she'd be brave enough to go tomorrow.

She gave up looking for her cell, and tip-toed out of her bedroom, and into the nursery. Carla gave her a smile when she entered, and stood up from the rocking chair then handed Quinn her daughter. Her mom would freak if she saw her in here, but screw her.

"She's such a quiet girl." The woman cooed quietly as she brushed a little cheek gently with her finger.

"Yeah." Quinn beamed as she took the seat Carla just vacated. "I really don't know where she gets it from. You always told me I was a noisy little girl. And Puck's mom said he was hell spawn."

"Yes! You talked all the time. Even before you could say words." Carla fussed over the blanket in the crib for a few moments before continuing. "Your mother says she'll be leaving us soon."

"Maybe."

"If you don't want to giver her up," The woman said as she put her hand on Quinn's head affectionately. "then you don't have to."

"It's for the best." Quinn mimicked her mother.

"For who?" Carla scoffed. "The drunkard? Or you?"

The blonde looked up at the woman with surprise. "I don't know."

"Then why is it for the best? Tell me."

"Because... Because I still have school."

"Yes, school is important. But it can be done. Any other reason?"

"I'm not mature enough."

"These are all the things I've heard your mother say. I'm asking you? Do  _you_  think you're not mature enough?"

"You know, this is the reason mom doesn't want me to talk to you."

Carla laughed. "Yes! Yes, I know." The woman moved to sit on her knees, and rested her hands on Quinn's leg. "She thinks I give you 'ideas'." She whispered conspiratorially. "But I believe that you're old enough to know what you want. If you want to keep the little one, then you should tell her. If you truly believe she would be better with someone else, then you have every right to have a say in where she goes."

"Mom's meeting with someone tomorrow."

"I know. And what do you think of that?"

Quinn sucked in her bottom lip. "Thinking about giving her up makes my heart hurt. I don't want to do it, and I don't want to be here."

"Then take your daughter, and go back to the place that made you feel safe."

"It's not that easy. Mom will be on her own, and I doubt The Berry's would have me back. Not now."

"You haven't spoken to them in days, so how could you possibly know that? As for your mother, well, even while your father was here, she was still alone. I think she enjoys to wallow in her own misery."

"Why do you even keep working here?"

Carla shrugged. "It's not so bad a place to work. I get paid well, and your mother doesn't bother me while I work." She paused for a second. "Anymore."

"Perhaps she thinks of you like family now."

"More like furniture."

"That's probably more likely. Well, you were more of a mother to us than she was; you still are."

"Thank you." The woman smiled, and stood up. "You should sleep on your decisions."

"Yeah." Quinn nodded, then handed Lily Beth back to Carla, and pushed herself from the chair. "Sleep is basically the body's way of turning it off and then on again."

Carla chuckled. "That's certainly one way of looking at it."

"Thank you for letting me talk."

"Sometimes a person needs someone to listen without judgment. I'm always here for you Quinn, whenever you need me."

The blonde swallowed the lump in her throat, and just nodded. Then she leaned down and placed a gentle kiss on her daughters head. "Goodnight Sweet pea. Goodnight Carla."

As she made her way back to her bedroom, she felt a little lighter: she was going to make tomorrow different.

One way or another.


End file.
